Naruto: Hinata Gaiden
by Venatrix
Summary: This fiction takes place during the 3 year training of Naruto with Jiraiya.1 year has passed, and Hinata misses Naruto. But she has bigger problems... This is a NaruHina fic with other parings aswel. Enjoy Hinata Gaiden! Please R&R.
1. Finding One

_This is my first Naruto Fan Fiction.  
Note that this story is based on a still ongoing Show / Manga in Japan._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!_

_**Please Read and Review.  
Thanks, and enjoy!** _

_I want to thank **hollywood1390** for editing this chapter and giving me some pointers which i'll use next chapter._

**_Naruto - Hinata Gaiden._**

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_**Chapter 1 – Finding one's strength.**_

_It has been 1 year now since he had left .I promised myself, after I saw leave for his training, to train as well, and become stronger .Neji helped me out a great deal, and I have been able to improve. However, my father told me last week, that if I wish to improve and become more like Neji, I must conquer my greatest fear. The problem is, that this thing I fear the most is out of my reach. And even if it was within my reach, I still lack the courage to face it head on. I truly want to change, I really do, but…… I'm too afraid._

Hinata, a young shinobi from the hidden village Konoha, wasn't able to sleep this night. Her thoughts kept her awake all night. She truly wishes to fall asleep so that she could start her training again early in the morning, but she couldn't. She decided to get out of bed, and get dressed, to go outside and take a midnight walk through Konoha. The village was really peaceful at night, for the only people she saw where the guards.

After a while Hinata reached a training area just outside of the village, and decides to sit down against one of the large wooden poles. It was a nice night. The sky was clear, and the temperature was pleasant, and the starts where shining brightly.

Hinata closed her eyes momentarily and could only see his face.  
She missed him terribly, even though they hardly saw each other, she still misses the feeling that he is only a few minutes walking away from her.  
Every time she saw him, she thought about walking up to him and just tell him how she feels for him. But every time she chickened out. That was her greatest fear…. Not the confession itself, but the idea of getting rejected by him was unbearable. After an hour of sitting and watching the stars, dreaming of what could've been, she finally felt sleepy and returned to her house, to sleep the rest of the night.

The next morning she had been waken by her little sister Hanabi, who couldn't stand her big sister's alarm clock going of this early. Hinata didn't get enough sleep and simply slapped right through it. She could hardly keep her eyes open during breakfast, and had trouble concentrating. After she gotten dressed, she fell asleep again on her couch.  
About 30 minutes later, she woke up by feeling somebody's hand on her shoulder.

It was Kurenai, hear team's Jounin. _"Hinata, wake up! We're late enough for the mission briefing as it is! We need to get going!"_

Hinata blinked and rubs her eyes a sec, before looking at her sensei. _"I'm sorry. It's just that I haven't had much sleep lately. I'm really exhausted."_

"_Perhaps you should stay home today and rest. The mission is only a C-class mission, and by the looks of the details given, Shina and Kiba should be able to pull this off on their own." _

Hinata rubs her eyes again and stands up. _"No, I'll be alright. I need to be strong, right?"_

Kurenai couldn't help it but smile at the determination Hinata's eyes showed. _"Well, let's get going then!"_

After the short mission, Hinata, Kiba and Shino met at the training area. Kiba looks at Hinata who sat on the ground against the same wooden pole she did last night, nearly asleep. _"Yo, Hinata, are you okay? You look a little pale girl!"_

Hinata was frightened for a sec by Kiba's loud voice. She sighs and stands up. _"I'm okay Kiba, really. I just……"_ She suddenly collapses onto the ground.

Kiba and Shino rushes over to her side. Shino places his hand on her forehead, as Akamaru pokes his nose at Hinata's cheek. _"Hmmm…. She has a fever. We should take her to the hospital."_ Kiba nods and picks her up, and walk her to the hospital.

In a hospital room, a nurse checks on Hinata as Kurenai walks in as well._ "What happened to her?"_

Kiba turns to his sensei and sighs. _"She just collapsed like that."_

Kurenai sighs deeply as the nurse finishes her research on Hinata. _"Well it looks like she's over exhausted. She'll need to stay here until her fever is gone."_

"_I guess I should have ordered her to stay home to rest for the day. Then this wouldn't have happened. She just worked to hard these last few months, anxious to improve herself."_ Kiba and Shino nod, recalling how much energy Hinata has been putting into her training. _"Kiba, Shino, why don't you 2 start today's training, and I'll be with you two in a half hour."_

Just like the 2 boys left the hospital to start training outside the walls of Konoha. Kurenai noticed a tear running down Hinata's check and wipes it off. _"I know you miss him, and how badly you want to impress him with your changes when he returns. However, if you keep this up, you'll only waist precious time in the hospital because your body can't keep up."_ Kurenai sighs deeply and leaves the room as well. As the door closes, Hinata opens her eyes, staring at the sealing. She could hear her father words clearly inside her head.

_Flashback_

_It was right after her last sparing match with Neji in front of her father and Hanabi. Like always, Neji defeated Hinata effortlessly. Her father walked up to her as she's being helped on her feet by Neji. "You have improved a lot, but you're still weak." He activated his Byakugan, and stares Hinata directly into her eyes. It's just the same as the time when she was matched up against Neji in the preliminary round of her first Chuunin exams. She could feel the pressure of her fathers stare and she tries desperately to look away. But her eyes couldn't fool her father, and he deactivated his Byakugan._

_He sighs, seemingly disappointed. "You are weak because fear is holding you back. Do you wish to be strong like Neji, Hinata?"_

"_Y-Yes father…."_

"_Hinata, if you truly want to become stronger, you must face you're greatest fear. Confront it, challenge it, fight it, and overcome it. Only then you'll be able to take the next step towards true greatness."_

_End Flashback_

Hinata blinks once and keeps staring at the sealing with her white eyes, sighing deeply. _"It seems I have little choice then, huh father?"_

The next day, early in the afternoon, Kurenai came to pick Hinata up from the hospital, and to walk her home. _"Hinata, I've told the Fifth about your situation and she agreed with my suggestion to give you a week to recover. So, that means you won't be doing anything this entire week, but resting and relaxing."_ Hinata didn't say anything, and just stared at the ground as they walk towards the Hyuuga mansion. _"And I'll be coming by every day to check on you." _Kurenai laughed. Hinata didn't smile and just kept staring at the ground.

Kurenai have seen Hinata depressed before, but not like this. She was concerned about her student, and after they arrived at the mansion, and saw Hinata leave for her room without saying anything, she decided to talk to her father. The female Jounin wondered through the huge mansion till she arrived at the training area. There, as always, Hiashi was training his youngest daughter Hanabi. _"Excuse me Hyuuga-sama. May I have a word with you?"_

Hiashi turns to Kurenai and frowns. _"You again, if it's about my older daughter, then you might as well leave. Don't waist my time with the same old discussion concerning Hinata."_

Kurenai nearly lost her cool at that moment but took a deep breath. _"I just wanted to inform you that Hinata is ordered to rest for this weak with no exceptions."_

Hiashi turns to the young female Jounin with an emotionless face. _"Very well, now if you have nothing else to inform me about, you are excused. You've interrupted me long enough."_ Kurenai bows and leaves the training area, and walks towards Hinata's room, just to find her young student already fast asleep. She sighs and smiles at the sight, and decides to leave the mansion.

The next morning Hanabi storms into Hinata's room again, quite angry coz her sisters alarm clock woke her up again. But when she opened the door to her sister's room she was shocked to find her bed empty. On her pillow there was an envelope addressed to _"Everyone"._ Hanabi opened the envelope and unfolded the letter, and starts reading it.

_Beginning of the letter_

_To Everyone,_

_As most of you know, I've had a hard time my entire life. Most of you also know that in the past year I've been working hard to try and improve  
myself in everyway possible. I felt after collapsing from exhaustion 2 days ago, that my progress has haltered._

_Most of you know that the mind can stop a person from achieving its goal for various reasons. Mine is the lack of confidence. Although I've been improving in that department, it's not enough. My father once told me the only way I can improve further is to overcome my greatest fear. First I didn't quite understand, but the time I had resting in the hospital and at home after I collapsed, made me think about a way to actually improve greatly. If I face my greatest fear, and overcome it, I'd be able to feel more confident about myself._

_Those who where with me in my first Chuunin exam probably have noticed, just like I did, how I changed during my match with Neji. I actually started to like myself a little more since then, and was proud of the fact that I didn't ran away and hide like I always did._

_I believe, that if I could gather all the little bits of courage I have to getter, I should be able to face my fear. To face that fear, I need to travel outside Konoha's safe zone, and use every skill I've learned so far to track down the source of my fear. I won't return until I've reached my goal._

_Please don't worry, and don't go after me to try and get me to change my mind. I will return, I promise. I won't go back on my word ... I won't run away... For that is my ninja way._

_Hinata._

_End of the letter_

Hanabi suddenly launches out of Hinata's room yelling for her father. _"Father! Father!"_

Hiashi steps out of his study room to see what all the noise is about. Neji, who has been accepted by Hiashi as his student, came out of the study room as well. Hanabi trips and falls onto the ground in front of them, and struggles to get up, breathing heavily._ "What is it Hanabi?"_

"_Hi…_ pant _Hinata…_ pant_ is gone…_ pant_"_ She hands her father the letter with shaking hands as Neji helps her up.

Hiashi narrows his eyes as he finished reading the letter. _"This isn't good… Neji, get this letter to the female Jounin in charge of her team, and tell her Hinata is gone. Tell her to meet me at the office of the Fifth."_ Neji nods, takes the letter and leaves.

While speeding to the usual training ground and meeting place where Hinata usually meets up with her other team members, he reads the letter.  
As he finished reading he narrows his eyes in frustration._ "I knew that this would happen sooner or later….. Shit!"_

He arrives at the training spot, with Kurenai, Kiba and Shino turn towards Neji. _"Neji? What brings you here? Is something wrong with Hinata?"_ Neji simply nods and hands her the letter. Kurenai reads the letter quickly, and then looks at Neji with disturbed eyes, which in return looks right back at her with his usual seemingly emotionless eyes.

"_Hinata probably left last night, taking all her scrolls and weapons with her." _Kurenai looks at Neji a bit worried now.

"_This is pretty bad isn't it?"_

"_Yes it is. Hiashi-sama requested our presence at the office of the 5th as soon as you've read the letter and know of the situation."_ Kurenai nods and turns to Kiba and Shino.

"_You two stay here and don't waste too much energy. I have a feeling we'll be getting a mission soon."_ With that Neji and Kurenai take off to the Tsunade's (the 5th Hokage) office. As both Neji and Kurenai enter Tsunade's office, they could see she's in deep thought. She looks up as Neji hands her the letter.

"_This is the letter Hinata left behind Hokage-sama."_ Tsunade carefully reads the letter word for word, and once she's finished, she lifts her sight at Kurenai.

"_Do you have an idea where she's going?"_ Kurenai shakes her head. Tsunade then turns her attention to Hiashi. _"Hiashi-sama, we'll make sure to get her back safely."_

"_Thank you Hokage-sama." _He bows and leaves the office. As the door is closed, Tsunade lets out a deep sigh, and turns to Kurenai again._ "Hinata is the shy girl in your team, right Kurenai?"_ The young, female Jounin nods. Tsunade reads the letter again and then turns her attention to Neji._ "You and Hinata faced each other during the Chuunin exams a bit more then a year ago right?"_

"_That is correct Hokage-sama."_

"_What exactly happened during that match? Give me as many details as you possibly can."_

Neji closed his eyes a sec and opens them again a second later. _"It was right after the match between Naruto and Kiba. When we faced each other, me and Hinata, I observed her emotions by watching her eyes and her body language. It was safe to say that Hinata was scared to fight me. She even started to hyperventilate out of the stress for just standing in front of me, eye to eye. I told her that she should quit for she would only get hurt. Then Naruto yelled from the balcony, telling Hinata to beat me up, and saying he knew she could do it." _Neji chuckled a bit at the thought.

Both Kurenai and Tsunade glared at Neji who immediately apologized and continued on with the story. _"I'm sorry, I got side tracked. The words Naruto yelled at Hinata somehow changed her. When I turned back to Hinata, her eyes have changed completely. She was much more confident about herself then before those words. And she even challenged me to fight. Though she had no chance of winning, she fought with everything she had, and more. Even after I caused internal damage to her, and shouldn't even been able to stand up on her own, she still did. Even at that moment she wanted to continue the fight. I gotten enraged by her and intended to kill her, and was luckily stopped by the referee and the Jounins."_

Tsunade closes her eyes to think, folding her hands under her chin. _"Hmmm…. But this still doesn't tell us where she is heading."_

"_On the contrary, it tells us exactly where she's going." _Tsunade, Kurenai and Neji turn to the side entrance of Tsunade's office, as Sakura walks in.

"_I'm sorry to interrupt Tsunade-sensei, but I think where she might be headed. I've been in the same class as Hinata in the academy, and know a great deal about my classmates. Ever since the academy, she has been observing Naruto. During the classes, if Naruto screwed up, like he always did, and was laughed at by everyone, she was quiet, and just watched him. We all know what drives Naruto, what his goals and dreams are, and even started to admire him for it. Hinata admired Naruto ever since the academy and sees him as a role model." _

She turns to Kurenai and continues. _"You should noticed as well, especially after his match with Kiba, before her own match against Neji, that when Naruto walked up the balcony, the expression on her face when she offered him her ointment." _Kurenai nods as Sakura continues. _"That expression she had on her face wasn't that of just admiration. That was the expression of a shy girl utterly in love with someone, but terrified about letting him know."_

Kurenai suddenly snaps out of her concentration._ "She has gone looking for Naruto!"_

Tsunade sighs deeply, obviously worried about the girl._ "Nobody knows where Jiraiya has taken Naruto. They are probably traveling all around the country. There is very little chance she'll find them. But she being someone of the main family of the Hyuuga clan, she has a unique bloodline, which is wanted by EVERY hidden village around. The chance that she'll run into danger is far more realistic then the chance she find Naruto! Kurenai, assemble a team ASAP, and track her down! You have one 30 minutes to get your team ready. Neji, Sakura, you'll join them as well. Now go!"_ Kurenai, Neji, and Sakura leave Tsunade's office in a flash.

Tsunade takes out 2 scrolls and opens one up. She starts to write down a message and roles it up again. Then she opens the other scroll, and performs a few seals to activate the scroll, summoning a regular looking hawk. Tsunade attaches the scroll onto the hawk's back._ "Make sure this scroll reaches Jiraiya."_ The hawk spreads its wings, and swoops out of the window, leaving as fast as he could.

In the meantime, in front of the Hokage's monument, Kurenai, Sakura and Neji appear in a blur. _"Sakura, you get Shikamaru. Neji, you get Lee and Tenten! I'll get my team and meet up just outside the main gate. Let's go!"_ Just as they appeared, they disappear, in a blur.

Sakura reaches the Nara residence and knocks on the door. Shikamaru's father opens the door._ "Hmmm?"_

"_Is Shikamaru home? I need him for a mission!"_ He scratches the back of his head while yawning.

"_Eeeehhhh….. I think he's still asleep. If you have a s…." _

Suddenly Sakura pushes the old man aside and speeds up the stares. _"I'm sorry, but I'm in a hurry!"_ She slams open the door of Shikamaru's door, seeing the Chuunin still fast asleep. Sakura pulls the poor boy out of his bed giving him a rather rude wake-up call. Shikamaru yawn and rubs his eyes.

"_What the….Huh?"_

"_Get ready quickly Shikamaru! You're needed for a top priority mission! Where leaving in 25 minutes! So hurry! I'll fill you in on the details when we're on the way to the meeting point! Go, go, go!"  
"Ugh….. how troublesome…." _

A few minutes later Sakura and Shikamaru arrive just outside the gate, just to see that they are the last ones to arrive. Shikamaru scratches the back of his head, looking at the rather large group._ "Isn't this a bit much to return just one little girl?"_ Kurenai shoots Shikamaru a glare that could kill most, sending the shivers down his spine. He slowly moves next to Kiba as Kurenai answers his question, still following him with her glare.

"_First of all this little girl you're talking about happens to be the heir of the Hyuuga clan. The Hyuuga hold a bloodline limit called Byakugan. It's wanted by every hidden village for its unique features. This means this little girl could be in serious trouble!"_ Kurenai turns her attention away from Shikamaru, who whispers to Kiba.

"_I told you girls are really troublesome. They always seem to get you into these kind of situations."_

"_I agree, it…" _Kiba and Shikamaru both get knocked out by team Kurenai, Sakura and Tenten.

Shino and Neji smirk at the sight, as Lee shivers a bit._ "Youth is a wonderful thing, but can be dangerous at times as well."_

Kurenai picks up Kiba and stares straight into his eyes, making him feel really uncomfortable._ "Kiba, you'll be in front, and follow Hinata's sent with Akamaru." _She drops Kiba and turns to Neji._ "Neji, you'll cover the back, and use your Byakugan to see ahead from time to time as Kiba thinks we're closing in. The rest will stay in between. That's it. Let's get going! We are at least 6 hours behind."_

Team Kurenai leaves the hidden village of Konoha, on a mission to retrieve a fellow leaf ninja.

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I'll update ASAP.

_Thank you for reading this chapter, and i hope you liked it.  
Please review._

_Thanks._


	2. Bravery Equals Strength

_This is my first Naruto Fan Fiction.  
Note that this story is based on a still ongoing Show / Manga in Japan _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!_

_**Please Read and Review.  
Thanks, and enjoy!**_

_I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter. _

Katfum – You're the first to review my post, and pointed out a few things I needed to change. To bad you didn't help much by telling me what to do. But thanks anyway.

crakbaby23 – As you can see, there where more that thought I should update sooner.

crazy-antman – I corrected the little error.

iamitachi – A lot of people like Hinata. And thought that when I'm gonna write a Naruto FanFiction, Hinata should play a big role in it, for she deserves it.

hollywood1390 – I hardly read any constructive reviews on any story I've read. I wanna thank you for helping me changing the things that needed to change in my story. Thanks a whole bunch again!

_**Naruto - Hinata Gaiden.**_

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_**Chapter 2 – Bravery Equals Strength.**_

It has been a full day now sins she had left Konoha. She had enough food and water with her to last at least 3 more days, but wouldn't need it if she passed through a small village.

A smile appears on the young girl's face as she notices a ramen shop. She enters the shop, which seemed to look a lot like the ramen shop in Konoha. As she sits down at the bar, she picks up the menu, and browses through it, wondering what to order. A man, in his mid forty's, walks up to her. _"You look rather hungry there miss. And looking at your bag, it seems you'll have a rather long journey ahead of you, am I right?"_ Hinata smiles at the man politely. _"Yes I am sir. And I'm rather hungry too."_ The man smiles back at Hinata and takes the menu away from her rather abruptly. _"A friendly young girl like you deserves something special! Just you wait! I've got a special ramen dish just for you! And I won't charge you extra!"_ Hinata blinks in surprise, but smiles as the man starts working on her order, which he himself agreed to. It was rather odd, but amusing.

A few minutes later the man places the bole filled with hot ramen and a lot of meat and vegetables. Hinata takes out a pair of disposable chopsticks, and takes her first bite. She decided this was probably one of the best ramen she has ever tasted, though the usual ramen wasn't her favourite thing to eat. She couldn't help herself as she started to blush. The image of her eating ramen as Naruto suddenly sits next to her, and joins her. That's when she thought about why she actually left Konoha, and opens her bag, taking out a picture of Naruto.

She hands shows it at the shop owner as she swallows the contents of her mouth before speaking up. _"A-Ano… I was wondering if you perhaps have seen this boy. He go's by the of Uzumaki Naruto. He's about the same age as me."_ The man takes the picture from Hinata and carefully studies the photograph. Hinata then notices a hopeful smile on the man's face as he hands her back the picture. He takes out a book and opens it. After browsing through the content he stops at a specific page and turns the book into Hinata's view, pointing at a picture, showing him, Jiraiya, and Naruto rather goofy looking. _"That's him right?"_ Hinata smiles at the sight of the happy Naruto. _"So his name is Uzumaki Naruto eh? I'd better write that down. He alone made my shop a better place. In one day he single headedly had me reach this month's target. And his sensei worked his way through half of my sake stock!"_ Hinata lets out a hopeful sight, for this was the first clue to Naruto's whereabouts. _"Its sad to say that this was a little more then a month ago."_ Hinata perks up and looks at the man with determent eyes. _"Which way did they set out to?"_ The man thought for a second and looks up at Hinata again. _"I believe they said they where headed North-West towards the Hidden_ _Village of the Sand."_ Hinata closed her eyes, thinking about what to do now. The Hidden Village of the Sand was almost 3 days travelling at full speed for her at her current location. Even if she'd reached the Sand in less then a day, she knew she wouldn't find Naruto there. But then she smiles and opens her eyes again. That's where she'll find the next clue on Naruto's whereabouts, and so that's where she'll be going. She sits down again and smiles at the shop owner. _"Thank you. You've helped me out a lot with this information."_ The shop owner smiles back at the shy young girl. _"No problem. It's not every day I have a beautiful young lady enjoying my ramen special. Now please continue the bole before it gets cold_." Hinata blushes at the comment of the shop owner and nods. _"Thank you."_ Hinata continues her bole of ramen, enjoying every little bit.

A few minutes later, she takes out her purse and pays the shop owner for her ramen.

Hinata bowed to the shop owner in respect and continued her way to face her fears, this time into the direction of the Hidden Village of the Sand.

Six hours away from the village, a group of leaf shinobi's speed into the direction of the small village. Akamaru barks loudly and stops on top of a thick branch of a large tree. Kiba kneels next to him and pets his head. Behind them, the other ninja's, Kurenai, Sakura, Tenten, Lee, Shikamaru and Shino, land in the same tree. Kurenai kneels next to Kiba and Akamaru. _"What's wrong?"_ Kiba turns to his sensei then nods into the direction Akamaru's nose is pointing. _"A village in that direction. Hinata's trail seems to head straight towards it. Pherhaps she's searching the village to find him there?"_ Neji shakes his head in disagreement. _"It's highly unlikely Hinata will search the village. First of all she wouldn't have to coz when she activates her Byakugan she'd be able to search the entire village without moving an inch. I think she might have taken a break, and perhaps replenished her supplies."_ Kurenai nods, thinking the same thing. _"Kiba, how old is the trail at this moment?"_ Kiba looks at Akamaru as he barks, then turns to Kurenai again. _"Hmmm about six hour's sensei."_ Kurenai blinks for a sec and then sighs, smiling a slight bit. She has improved quite a lot this past year, to be able to keep the same distance between us sins we left. The female Jounin thought. She didn't expect Hinata to be this determent to have her push beyond the limits she has shown all these years. Kurenai was feeling a slight bit of pride for seeing how her student managed to keep herself away from them. Kurenai turned to the others with a serious look on her face. _"We'll check the village for any clues that might be useful to us in tracking her. After that, we'll meet up again at the other side of the village to review what we have found out. Any questions?"_ The silence from her other team mates said enough. "Okay, spread out!" The seven leaf shinobi vanish in a blur, and headed towards the village.

Neji and Tenten walk through the street and looks around, till he suddenly stops. Tenten stops a second later and turns to Neji. _"What's wrong?"_ Neji turns his head to the right. _"Nothing probably. Just a hunch."_ Neji turns and walks to the ramen shop, with Tenten fallowing him not far behind. The ramen shop owner notices Neji, and wonders whats up today with kids and pale eyes. _"Good evening, can I help you two with something?"_ Neji looks around before turning his full attention to the shop owner. _"Perhaps you can. We are looking for a girl who's a head shorter then I am, dark blue hair, and the most distinguished feature is that she has the same pale eyes as me. I was hoping she went past here."_ The shop owner didn't trust Neji one little bit. Even though he looked a lot like the young girl a few hours ago, he sounded a bit to cold for comfort. Tenten notices the man's uneasiness and steps up, next to her team mate. _"I'm sorry for my friend here. He has these emotional problems, and tends to react like this towards strangers."_ Neji turned his head towards Tenten and opened his mouth, wanting to say something in his defence as he suddenly feels a sharp pain in his buttocks. Tenten was squeezing and twisting his cheeks hard. _"You see this girl is our niece, and she ran away from home yesterday, and her father sent us to go get her again. It's an evil world out there, with dangers lurking around every corner, and well…. She's just one little girl all alone. We wanna find her before something bad happens. Could you help us please?"_ Tenten putts up a serious face, as if she's really concerned about her so called niece, while Neji stays surprisingly quiet. The only sound coming from the Hyuuga where some smothered moans, and the grinding of his teeth, as Tenten keeps squeezing and twisting his buttocks. The shop owner hesitated for a moment, but then decides to trust this young girl at the other side of his counter. _"She's been here this afternoon eating some ramen. Nice girl, though she doesn't seem to be someone to run away like that. But you're right. Its to dangerous out there, and its getting dark soon as well. What do you want to know?"_ Tenten sighs in relief and lets Neji go out of his tormenting position. He rubs his behind, knowing he'll feel this for at least a few days. _"Tell us everything you know. And if possible, even where she might be headed for."_

The shop owner clears his throat before telling the 2 teenagers in front of him what he told the young girl a few hours ago. _"She was looking for a boy, Uzumaki Naruto I believe. He and the man that was with him where talking about going to the Hidden_ _Village of the Sand. After I told her, she left almost immediately."_ Tenten smiles and bows politely towards the shop owner. "Thank you a lot sir! You really helped us out here! Let's go Neji!" Without ferther warning she grabbed Neji's arm, and pulls him with her as she walked out of the ramen shop, waving at the shop owner.

Once outside she lets Neji's arm go and stops. Neji rubs his behind again and starts to glare at Tenten. _"Why the hell did you do that for?"_ Tenten smiles widely. _"Well, you weren't getting anywhere where. If I didn't stop you, you would've scared that poor man even more. Then we never would've gotten this information."_ Neji keeps rubbing his sore spot as he walks past Tenten. _"What ever. Do it again, and I won't be so forgiving."_ Tenten couldn't care less, and he knew it. Neji nods to Tenten, and the 2 vannish in a blur, heading towards the other side of the village, where they'll rendezvous with the others.

Outside the village at a small clearing in the thick forest Kurenai, Sakura, Lee, Kiba and Shino waited for Tenten and Neji. They didn't have to wait much longer as Tenten and Neji appear in front of Kurenai in a blur. _"Kurenai-sensei, we have gotten some valuable information. Hinata has been located in the village , and it seems she's heading towards the Hidden_ _Village of the Sand."_ Neji moves away from Tenten, and Kurenai, having nothing to report, still rubbing his behind, as Kiba, Shikamaru and Lee walk up to him. Kiba smirks while petting Akamaru, who's staying comfortably inside Kiba's jacket. _"What happened to you? Stung by a bee or something?"_ Neji mutters a bit as he turns his head around, glaring at Tenten again. _"It's like you have always been saying Shikamaru, women really are troublesome."_ Shikamaru sighs and shakes his head while having his hands in his pockets as always, and fallows Neji's glaring eyes towards Tenten and sighs, closing his eyes. _"Figures…."_

Sakura, who over heard the conversation between the boys, enrages again, and swings her fist at the threesome. Neji saw it coming, and leans back, dodging the punch, while Shikamaru did a Kawarimi No Jusu, and a wooden log appears being hit by Sakura instead himself. He reappears on the ground a few meters from Sakura, watching the clouds. Kiba just ducked, barely dodging the punch as well, leaving Lee to be the unlucky one, who was right behind him. The thick eye browed guy receives the full force of Sakura's punch, and fly's at least 5 meters away, before hitting the ground. Konoha's beautiful azure beast was lying on the ground, twitching and bleeding. _"Ughh…"_

Moments later, Kurenai addresses her team. "Okey people, listen up! Hinata headed towards Hidden Sand. We are lucky they are allies, but that doesn't mean she's safe. It's almost a 3 day trip, and she still has a 6 hour head start. We need to go faster to catch up on her. I doubt she'll stay in Sand for long so I hope we really catch her there. Coz if she stays ahead of us, and leave the Sand before we could even catch her, she might head straight into less friendly territory. I'd like to avoid this as much as possible. Dump everything you won't necessarily need so you'll carry less weight, and can travel faster. Everyone dumps the stuff they think they won't really need, and minutes later, Kurenai ordered them all to start moving again.

The next morning, Akamaru barks after he sniffed the ground around a pile of still smoking ashes. Team Kurenai decided to keep moving last nigh, and discovered the last resting spot of Hinata. Shikamaru told Neji to check their surrounding with his Byakugan, to check for traps.

Neji nods and checks the area, and seems to smile a bit while doing so. _"Heh…. You've trained her well Kurenai-sensei. She might be naïve, but she became far more skilled in the past year."_ Kurenai turns to Neji looking a bit surprised. She knew Neji had developed a soft side towards Hinata, but to give her compliment like this was a first. Even Tenten seemed amazed. Kiba finally alerted everyone with some good news for a change. _"It seems Hinata had left this place little less then 4 hours ago."_

Shikamaru sat on a rock while the rest where examining the area. He sighted as he heard Kiba's report. _"It looks like we will be able to catch her tonight if we keep up this up."_ He thought about the mission he led to bring Sasuke back a little more then a year ago, and the way it all turned out. Silently he was glad he didn't have to lead this mission. He sensed that they where heading straight towards trouble. But that wasn't his biggest concern. In less then 2 days from then, he would most probably see THAT woman again. Things truly will turn out to be rather troublesome indeed. He should've told Sakura he was having the flue or something when she picked him up for this mission. He knew this would happen. His mother was a scary person, but this sand shinobi was still the scariest woman he ever met.

Kurenai claps her hands once to get everyone's attention. _"Okay, we're finally making some progress, however, we shouldn't slow down now. She had probably an hour of rest last night, so she'll have a small advantage. If we keep going at the same passé as we did the last couple of hours, we should be able to sleep for 2 or 3 hours tonight without losing to much ground. When we reach the Hidden Sand, we should be able to catch her there."_ The seven leaf shinobi leap up into the trees again, and picked up speed again, with Kiba and Akamaru in front, fallowing Hinata's sent.

A few hours ahead of the 7 Leaf shinobi, Hinata speeds through the trees, heading directly towards the Sand. She surprised herself on how fast she could actually go, and going on for some time now to. The woods started to get thinner and the trees smaller, while the temperature rises slowly. These signed told her the land was getting drying, and she's getting closer and closer to the dessert.

Suddenly, out of the blue, a Kunai swings towards her. Hinata took notice of the treat just in time and twirls, dodging the projectile by less then an inch. To Hinata's surprise, an explosive tag was connected to it, and as soon as the kunai slams into the base of the tree she landed in, it exploded. The explosion knocks Hinata out of balance, and falls down towards the ground. She had no where to catch on to stop her from falling, and twirled around preparing to land roughly, when she's caught by a net which was spun between four trees. She didn't waste any time, took out a kunai and cut through the net. She fell down again, and lands on all fours to break the fall.

As Hinata looked around, she noticed she was surrounded by four ninja's. She could easily identify them as shinobi from the Hidden Village of Rain. And not only where these 4 Rain shinobi, they also where of Chuunin level, looking at the vests they whore. She knew she was in real big trouble. _"Hmmm… This isn't any ordinary girl. The way she moved through the trees, dodged the kunai and how quickly she got out of the net she seems to be a ninja." _One said while another stepped forwards. Looking at her through his goggles he suddenly grins widely. _"Well well well boys… It's seems luck has crossed our road."_ The biggest of the four Rain shinobi moved forwards and looks at the young girl as well and smirks. _"I guess you're shit out off luck girl! Hehehehe! First mistake you made is to travel alone through these woods during these dangerous times. Second mistake is to run into us, and finally, your third and biggest mistake….. To be born in Konoha and as a Hyuuga at that. You have no idea how much we want to cut you up and all kind off experiments on you. That al for those pretty eyes of yours."_ He rubs the right cheek of Hinata gently while grinning evilly. Hinata looked at the Rain ninja with big and scared eyes. _"Don't worry to much about it girl, you'll gonna have a nice long nap on the way to our village."_ The ninja takes out a small needle with sleeping poison on it and thrusts it towards Hinata's neck.

She closed her eyes as she suddenly finds herself in a totally different location. Her vision was a slightly bit blurry but when she focussed she knew where she was. She was standing in front of Neji at the preliminary round of the Chuunin exams. She saw his lips move as if he was talking to her, but everything was quiet. She couldn't even hear herself breathing. Then, she heard a loud and very familiar voice calling for her. _"HINATA !"_

She could just hit herself in the head right there and then, nearly forgetting why she left Konoha. She couldn't have it end right there.

Hinata opened her eyes again, and swiftly blocks the hand that almost had her neck pierced with the poisoned needle. She couldn't stop here, now she's this close to find the next clue towards her goal. She thrusts her left hand into her enemy's stomach, punching the air out of him. He took a step back as Hinata preformed a few hand seals while she closed her eyes. _"Byakugan!" _Hinata opened her eyes again, and large veins appeared around her eyes. Without warning she charged forwards, surprising the Rain ninja she punched a few seconds ago. This time however, she thrusts the palm of her hand into his chest. As her hand made contact with his chest, blue charka shot out of his back, and blood pored out of his mouth as he dropped to the ground. Hinata turned to the other three Rain ninja's, glaring at them. _"I have no time for any of you. Leave or die… Your choice… Decide quickly…"_ She leans back into her battle stance as the shinobi with the goggles suddenly charged at Hinata in a blind rage. _"DIE!" _He draws both his Shinobigatana's, slashing and cutting at Hinata, who dodges most of them. The last slash hit her shoulder side slightly, but she pushed his left arm away, leaving his chest completely open to her attack, and finishes him off the same way as his bigger team mate a few seconds ago. The only female of the Rain shinobi team leaped up into the tree after her team mate charged at Hinata and gets killed. The female ninja threw five needles with an extraordinary precision at Hinata, who could only dodge 3 and needed to block the needles with her arms. As the needles slammed into her arms she noticed that the long haired Rain shinobi swiftly preformed a few hand seals. _"Akumu No Justu!"_ Hinata noticed blue charka surging through, what seemed a thin thread which connected the needles to the female shinobi who thrown then, and tried to pull them out, but was too late. She suddenly found herself in a pitch black area. A voice was heard whispering to her. _"Welcome…. To your worst nightmare's, properly created by yours truly."_

Meanwhile, in Konoha, Kakashi, Gai, and Asuma returned from their mission, ran into Shizune. _"Great! You're here finally!"_ Kakashi, who was reading _'Ichi Ichi Female Secrets'_, lowered his book and looks a bit confused at Shizune. _"Hmmm? What do you mean finally? I think we are rather quick, ending our mission in only 5 days, while 7 was estimated." "What ever! You need to report to the Hokage right away!"_ Asuma lights another cigarette and butts into the conversation between Kakashi and Shizune. _"Don't tell me something bad happened. Last time I needed to report to Tsunade-sama, I was told that Chouji and Shokamaru where in the hospital."_ He blows a bit of smoke into Shizune's face, just to annoy her. _"It IS bad! So lets get going! Tsunade-sama will explain the situation in her office!"_

Tsunade was waiting for them rather impatiently and chewed up at least a dozen pencils as Sizune finally arrives with Kakashi, Gai, and Azuma. "_You called for us Hokage-sama?"_ The seriousness level was unusually high on Tsunade's facial expression. _"I need you for another mission."_ Kakashi blinks a sec as Tsunade stares straight into his eyes, sending the chills down his spine. _"There is an unusual tension rising from the hidden Sound….. I need you to infiltrate the hidden sound, and get as much info as you can get. But beware… Sources also spoke of Uchiha Sasuke showing up a lot latelywithin Sound's territory."_ Kakashi's exposed eye narrows. _"Sasuke…." "Also, Hyuuga Hinata left Konoha on her own, most probably searching for Naruto. I send Kurenai to get her back. I send Sakura away along with her. She doesn't need to find out this information this early on." _Tsunade sighs deeply, feeling as if the entire world is slowly starting to crumble around her. Kakashi nods. _"I'll leave right away Hokage-sama."_ Gai steps forwards as Kakashi vanishes in a puff of smoke. _"Hokage-sama, did Lee join Kurenai on her mission?"_ Tsunade nods as a hawk suddenly fly's through her window and land on her desk, with a scroll bonded on it's back. Tsunade take the scroll from the hawk and watches it vanish in a puff of smoke. She opens the scroll and sighs deeply as she reads the content. She roles the scroll back up and turns her attention back to Gai. _"You and Asuma need to prepare for departure as well. Shizune will join you as well."_ Shizune nods and leaves to prepare for the new mission.

Kakashi walks through the large gates of Konoha, and sighs deeply as he looks up at the clear sky. In a blur, he suddenly vanishes into the woods, heading in the direction of the Sound, knowing this is going to be a tough mission.

Akamaru barks loudly to Kiba, as Kurenai moves next to him, while they speed through the bushes, heading into the direction of the Sand. _"What is it Kiba?"_ Kiba frowns for a second before answering. _"He picked up the sent of blood, and the sent of seven others in her direction. Three of them seem to be a slight bit further away, but I can't say for sure."_ Kurenai looks in front of her and narrows her eyes. _"We might be to late…… Hinata… Damn!"_ She turns her head, looking over her shoulder to the others and sighs. _"Kurenai-sensei. You are much faster then we are. If Hinata really is in trouble, you might be able to help out. We'll be not far behind."_ Kurenai slowed down a sec, till she was next to Shikamaru. "_I'll be going ahead. You'll be in charge till you catch up with me."_ Shikamaru blinks, and then sighs deeply. _"More troublesome things …. I just know I'll regret it in the end…"_ Kurenai gave Shikamaru a short glare before slowing down again till she was next to Shino_. "Shino. Plant one of your bugs on me. I'll be taking Akamaru ahead of you. Hinata might be in trouble, and I can travel much faster then you. Take the lead from Kiba. I'm off."_ Kurenai speeds forwards again, till she's next to Kiba. _"I'll need to barrow Akamaru for a while."_ Kiba sighs and nods. _"Akamaru will be showing you the way by pointing his nose into the direction you should be going. Take good care of him."_ Kurenai nods and takes Akamaru, and suddenly increases her speed dramatically, leaving the other to bite her dust.

The darkness suddenly revealed a figure walking slowly towards Hinata. She took a few steps back, but froze when the figure came closer and recognised him. _"N-Naruto-kun……"_ Naruto stopped on 2 feet from her and grins. _"Hinata-chan..."_ He slowly slides into his fighting pose. _"…Let's us fight…"_ Hinata blinks a few times and takes a step back before being able to answer. _"W-What? N-No… I c-can't fight you…"_ Naruto grin grows even wider now. _"You've always been weak Hinata… You make me sick… And now… It's time for me to cure myself… And kill you…"_ She was afraid, but she looked a bit more confident now. _"You're not Naruto-kun… He would never attack his friends… You're a fake… An illusion…"_ Naruto smirks slightly. _"Fake huh? An illusion? Would an illusion be able to do… THIS!"_ He quickly darts forwards on slammed his fist deeply into Hinata's stomach, who collapsed onto the ground, coughing up blood. Naruto grabs her by her throat, and pulls her to his face. _"Illusions can't hurt the real this can they? So why does it hurt then hm? Hehehehe!"_ He lets go of her throat, just to slam his fist straight into her face, knocking her to the ground. Naruto slowly walks towards Hinata, still smiling. _"There is no place in this world for the weak. And you, Hinata-chan, are weak. Therefore you must die."_ He kicks Hinata in the chest, making her roll away, and stop when she was on her back. The young girl coughed up even more blood before trying to get up, just to be kicked in the head by Naruto. Hinata slams against the ground, as the blood now runs from her nose as well. Naruto watches amusingly as Hinata struggles back onto her feet, with her back towards Naruto. _"How does it feel Hinata-chan? When you know you're going to die?"_ Hinata stands straight and balanced again as she replies. _"I'll show you…"_ Naruto frowns and stands into his battle stance again as Hinata turns around. _"Byakugan!"_ Hinata's eyes changed again, and looks straight through Naruto as she too stands into her battle stance. Naruto charges at Hinata, and lays punch after kick after punch at her, who she in return dodge quite easily. This wasn't Naruto's fighting style at all. The real Naruto, if he wanted to, wouldn't attack her head on like this. As she suddenly ducks, dodging a punch, she moved into his comfort zone, and slammed both hands into his chest, knocking the blond away a few feet. Hinata stands up again and walks to the fake Naruto, holding her side, and wipes some blood from her face with her other hand. _"It looks like I'm not the only one who gets wounded in this genjutsu."_ The Naruto form fades away, and makes place for the female Rain Chuunin. _"Perhaps, however, you still forget that you're still inside my genjutsu, and you can't do anything outside it… Tetsuo! Kill her now!"_

While Hinata was in a trance the last remaining male walked to the helpless young Hyuuga. He drew a kunai and smirked widely, looking at his female, and only remaining, companion, who seemed to be wounded somehow. _"This is just no fun now."_ The female glared at him. _"Just kill her already! Send her to the same place she sent them! Just hurry up! I can't hold her in this jutsu for much longer!"_ He sighs and turns back to the helpless Hinata, then looks at his kunai. _"I still don't think this'll be much fun… I'd rather see her suffer some more before dieing… A well, I'll just cut her throat then and watch her drown in her own blood."_ A foul grin is forced on his face as he pull's Hinata's head back by her hear, and places his kunai at her throat.

_

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__Cliff-hanger, i know.  
I can be evil at times, while I'm usually such a nice girl :P _

_Anyway, i hope you people enjoyed this chapter, and I'll post chapter nr. 3 next weekend._


	3. Confession

_This is my first Naruto Fan Fiction.  
Note that this story is based on a still ongoing Show / Manga in Japan_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!_

_**Please Read and Review.  
Thanks, and enjoy!**_

_I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter. _

crakbaby23 – Thanks for noticing the little error, and told me about it. Glad you like this story

Eva-Freak015 – Well, i guess you'll find out in this chapter huh?

Patch5129 – Hinata, who in the original series wants to be strong as well, has the same motivation as in the original story. However, i'll give it my own little twist along the way.

crazy-antman – I'll keep trying my best to get a good story for you people, and try to keep it from getting boring. Glad you like it so far, but what do you mean with the disguises?

_**Naruto - Hinata Gaiden.**_

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_**Chapter 3 – Confession.**_

Total darkness clouded her vision. The last thing she remembered was the Rain shinobi woman who had her trapped in a Genjutsu, who was yelling at somebody to kill her. It then hit her. While being under the Genjutsu, she wouldn't be able to know what was going on outside. Not even with her body. Could it be that she's dead? Could her quest really be ended just like that?

No! She couldn't believe that. She didn't even have a slight chance of meeting him again face to face. She wanted to see him even more so now.

Hinata could feel a tear run down her left cheek. That's when she knew she couldn't have died yet. She wasn't dead! She could even feel the wounds she has on her body from her battle against the 4 Rain ninja's. She was alive!

Slowly she opened her eyes , and stared at the sealing for a second. The light kept her from seeing anything yet, but slowly she could focus on the sealing. It was a rough sealing, with cracks all over, like it would fall apart any moment, but it didn't.

Hinata then turned her head, looking towards her left, and needed to focus her vision again, just to find she was staring outside a window.

The sun shined brightly, and there was no clouds drifting by at all. The wind was strong however, and she could hear some people talk outside. She slowly sat up, and wanted to look outside till she heard a familiar female voice coming from her other side.

"_So you finally decided to wake up huh? Why they call the shinobi of Konoha the best rated among all of the other hidden villages is beyond me."_

Hinata turned her head quickly to see who it was, but closed her eyes as she felt a sharp pain in her neck. She placed her hand on the spot in her neck, just to find a band aid wrapped around her neck, to cover her wound. She then looked up to where the female voice came from, but couldn't focus fast enough to find out who she was on her own, as someone else walked into the room. As she turned to meet the arrival, her eyes enlarged quickly as she remembers the one just walked into the room. The Red eyes, the pale skin, the red hair, and most distinguishing was his large gourd on his back. _"S-Sabaku N-No Gaara…."_

Hinata didn't know what to think. For all she know the Sand might have betrayed Konoha again. If this was true, she's in some really big trouble.

Gaara looks at Hinata with his cold eyes, and then turned to the dark corner, where the female voice came from. _"Temari. How is she?" _Temari came out of the dark corner and smiled at Hinata. _"With the look she gave you when you walked in, I'd say she's just fine. Hehehehe."_ Gaara turned to Hinata again, and leaned closer to her, sending the shivers down her spine. She was scared beyond belief, and he could see it as clearly as daylight.

"_You do not need to fear me. I will not harm you so your safe."_ He said as he turned around and walked towards the exit again. There he stopped and turned to Temari again. _"Help her clean herself, and provide her with some fresh clothes. A woman shouldn't reek of the blood of her victoms."_ Temari turned to Gaara, looking not so pleased to say the least. _"Why me?"_ As Gaara walked around the corner, Kankurou turned his head around the corner. _"Because you're a girl as well you idiot. Hehehehe."_ He waved at Temari as he fallowed Gaara, who turned his head towards him. _"You do know Temari will punish you later for calling her that don't you?"_ Kankurou stiffens for a sec after realising this. _"Crap! I'm in for it now……"_

Temari nearly exploded with anger before Hinata addressed her with her calming voice. _"E-Excuse me…. I-I was wondering… W-What happend?"_ Temari turned seemingly still annoyed about Kankurou's insult towards her, but took a deep breath as she moved to Hinata.

"_Hmmmm… Where to begin…. Ah! Yes!"_ She grabs a chair, and sits down. She takes another deep breath and starts talking. _"Well, it's like this…."_

_**Flashback**_

Tetsuo, the last surviving male of his team of Rain shinobi, placed his kunai at Hinata's throat, ready to slice it open.

To his surprise, Hinata suddenly drops onto the ground as his hands seemed to be forced open, which was holding Hinata by her hair at first. He didn't seem to be able to move, and as his sight lowers to the strange feeling around his legs, he saw sand covering his entire body rapidly. He was lifted into the air by the sand and as he was turned around he could clearly see Gaara standing below, with his hands aiming at him and his comrade. As he moved his eyes to his left, he saw her also floating in the air, covered in sand.

Gaara narrowed his eyes and was about to kill them both as he was stopped by Temari. _"Wait! You should spare one of them. We where send here to find out what these Rain shinobi where doing in our territory, and to do so we need one of them alive."_

Gaara turned to his sister for a moment, and then turned back to the Rain shinobi. _"The woman is already weakened, and won't survive the interrogation methods. She's of no use to us."_

With a blank expression on his face, he squeezed his left hand into a fist, compressing the sand with his chaka, killing the Rain kunoichi instantly.

Blood rained down onto the ground, and also splattered against Tetsuo's face. He looked horrified. He just witnessed the awesome power of Gaara, who turned his attention to him now. _"Tell me what your objective was within the territories of the Sand. Refuse and I'll have my sand crush every bone in your body….one by one…."_ The Rain shinobi suddenly yelled out in pain as Gaara had his send crush the tip of his smallest toe.

_**End Flashback**_

Hinata blinks as she looks at Temari confused. "Y-You mean I was saved by Gaara-sama ?" Temari simply nodded as an answer. _"Fallow me. I'll show you where you can take a bath."_ Hinata nodded and fallowed the Sand kunoichi to the hospital's bathroom. _"While you get yourself cleaned up, I'll arrange you some clean clothes."_ Temari turns around and leaves the bathroom after Hinata undressed herself and slid comfortably in the bathtub, taking Hinata's dirty clothing with her.

The sand kunoichi wanders into another room at the other side of the hallway, and laid down Hinata's clothing. She opened a closet and checks out the contents, muttering. _"This girl is rather small. It seems I have little choice but to give her this."_ She pulled out a white dress, which looked like the dress Kurenai usually wears. She makes the outfit complete along with some underwear, and putts Hinata's older clothes in a beg.

Temari hands the bag to an older woman. _"Make sure these clothes are fixed and cleaned within an hour."_ The older woman nods. The sand kunoichi turned and made her way back to the bathroom, where she left Hinata a few minutes ago. As she approached the door to the bathroom, she saw Gaara standing next to the door. He was waiting patiently and turned his head to his sibling as she approached him. _"Gaara ?" "Temari, when she's done, escort her to the main office."_ Temari nods and watches Gaara leave again.

Hinata heard a knock on the door, and turns as Temari walked in, carrying clothes for her to wear. She placed the clothes on a table and turned to Hinata. _"What's your name?"_ Hinata didn't know if she should trust the sand. Her father always told her never to tell anybody her full name outside the village. Not even the friendly ones, for even they had their sights set on the Hyuuga bloodline limits. But then, she was alone, and the hidden sand was a home to very powerful shinobi, not to mention one named Gaara. _"Hyuuga Hinata. And may I know yours as well?"_ Temari smirks a sec. Why should she give her name to this pathetic little girl? But then, Gaara told her to try and be as polite towards any Leaf shinobi as possible. _"I'm Temari."_ She turns around and opens the door, preparing to walk out of the bathroom, as she stops and turns her head towards the young Leaf kunoichi_. "I'll pick you up in about 15 minutes. Be sure you're ready then."_ Hinata blinks a bit confused at Temari. "Pick me up? To go where?" Temari smirks again as she slowly closes the door behind her. _"To see the Kazekage."_ Hinata looked down into the water, then pulled her legs up to her chest. She was going to meet the new Kazekage before even the Hokage. She was worried though, for she had no idea why the Kazekage wanted to see her, not to mention what kind of a person he would be.

Meanwhile, in the woods, a few hours away from the hidden village of the Sand, Kurenai arrives at the spot where she found the bodies of four Rain shinobi. two of them seemed to be killed by damage to their internal organs, the other two... Kurenai had trouble not to vomit at the sight the other two bodies. _"Ugh….. There are body parts all over the place…."_ She then noticed a backpack lying on the ground, with a few blood stains on it. She recognized the bag right away from the Hyuuga insigna carved in a small pendant at the back. She looked down at Akamaru, who seemed bothered by the sent of blood all over the place. _"I know you're scared Akamaru, but I need you to find out if you could detect where Hinata might have gone to."_ Akamaru overcame his fear, and crawled out of Kurenai's dress, and starts to sniff all around the place. Suddenly Akamaru stiffens and turns around quickly, leaping straight back into Kurenai's dress He was shivering like mad. The young dog was whining loudly, which confused Kurenai. _"I don't know what's gotten into you, but I guess I won't find out before Kiba and the others return."_ The female Jounin rested her back against a tree and petted the frightened little dog, trying to calm it even a little.

Two hours went by before the other Konoha ninja's arrive at the scene. Kurenay nodded the others welcome, as she watched them look at the remains of the Rain shinobi with disgust. She gave Kiba Akamaru back carefully. _"I don't know what's wrong with Akamaru, and was wondering if you could tell me what gotten him so spooked. It wasn't the corpses, that I know for sure. It's something else."_ Kibo watched Akamaru dive into his jacket, and felt him shiver like mad. _"What's wrong Akamaru?"_ His partner gave him a whining bark, which made Kiba's face look somewhat confused. He looked back at Kurenai. _"He smelled the sent of the three Sand siblings. He's still frightened of Gaara since the Chuunin exams."_

At that time, Sakura walked towards Kurenai and Kiba, interrupting their conversation, while rubbing some blood of her hands with one of the jackets of the Rain Chuunins that where killed more gracefully. _"It seems the two shinobi, that where still in one piece, had a lot of damage to their internal organs."_ Neji overheard Sakura's conclusion, and filled it in with a little more detail. _"Those two where killed by Hinata while using her gentle fist…. I never saw a killing intend in her eyes before though. I never thought she was capable of taking someone's life."_ The others looked at Neji as if he just told a really bad joke. Kurenai however sighed deeply. Has her determination driven her this far? Then Sakura, who somehow knew Hinata did this and didn't seem a slight bit fazed about it, continue with her analyses. _"The other two have been killed a little later later. Their bodies where crushed and ripped apart by something pretty powerful. And they have bits of desert sand all over their remains. But there is no sign of Hinata." "I knew it was that Gaara freak! He killed those two other two Rain ninja, and took Hinata with him!"_ Kiba yells. Kurenai placed her hand at the young shonobi's shoulder, calming him down a bit. _"I think this is actually a rather good thing. The Sand is now allies with Konoha, and so Hinata should be pretty safe right now. We should leave this place, and keep going until Kiba and Akamaru won't be bothered by the smell anymore, so we could rest for a while. I don't think the Sand would harm Hinata, and she'll be safe."_

The wind that day came from the desert, and only fifteen minutes later, Kiba motions Kurenai that he couldn't smell anything from the site where the four corpses of the Rain shinobi where lying.

The minutes went by quickly, and Hinata just finished dressing herself, as Temari walked into the bathroom. She smirked at the smaller girl, who suddenly blushed, showing her uncertain self again. _"Ehm…. I look w-weird now don't i?"_ Temari frowned slightly. This Konoha kunoichi was exactly the opposite of herself, someone she didn't like to communicate with. She also didn't liked being criticized about what she wears and how she looked. The clothes Hinata had on right now, where the clothes Temari herself had bean wearing about 2 years ago. _"If you don't like it, you could take it off and meet the Kazekage without any clothes on."_ She sneared at Hinata. Hinata picked this emotional answer up right away, and lowered her head. _"I-I'm sorry Temari-sama"_ The sand kunoichi turned around, and stared at the her leaf college. She expected to be called a bitch like most of them would behind her back after giving such a harsh answer. This girl just apologized to her in a formality she'd only use herself when she talked to her father or the Kazekage. Temari smiled at Hinata, coz to her, it had a rather nice ring to it, being respected like this. _"Don't sweat it girl. Now lets move it. The Kazekage is waiting for you."_ Hinata nodded, and fallowed Temary as she turned right, walking into the direction of the main office, the large room where the Kazekage works.

While walking behind Temari, Hinata could feel the eyes of the sand shinobi stare at her as they passed by. She didn't feel comfortable at all, while her cheeks turned redder by the second. She even started to walk a bit closer to Temari, as if she was looking for protection from her. Temari noticed this and turned her head, wanting to yell at her, but saw the disturbed look on her face, trying to avoid being seen. As she turned her head, she saw the exact reason why the smaller girl didn't feel to comfortable. Temari sighted and started to look rather annoyed, scaring away the other shinobi rather quickly. It seemed her reputation was still holding firm among the men.

Not much later, they arrive, and the two guards open the doors to the Kazekage's office. "_Subaku no Temari escorting Hyuuga Hinata as requested."_ She bows and leaves the dark room again. Hinata felt like she'd rather was alone back in that hallway with all those staring eyes focused at her. She was scared. Then the large chair turned around revealing the new Kazekage's form. Gaara. Hinata took a few steps back till she felt the door against her back. Gaara sighs heavily as she watched the reaction of the Hyuuga girl, and was rather displeased. But rather then attacking her he slowly stood up and points his hand at a chair at the other side of his desk. _"Hyuuga Hinata of Konoha, please be seated."_ With trembling knees she did as Gaara asked. Though he saved her from the Rain shinobi, she couldn't help it but still fear him. After Hinata slowly sat down, Gaara did the same. She moved away her eyes from Gaara as she felt his eyes staring straight at her. The silence in the large and dark room didn't help either. Then Gaara broke this silence. _"Hyuuga Hinata, what's your business within the territory of the Sand? And why are you alone?"_ Hinata tried to look for a way out of this situation, but couldn't find any. _"I…I…"_ Gaara kept his eyes focused at Hinata, which didn't make her feel comfortable. She felt the pressure rise. The young girl felyt like she could faint at any second right there and then. Then she closed her eyes and breaths deeply, releaving some of the pressure. Without opening her eyes she started to speak _"I-I'm looking for … someone. And the last clues I found led to your village."_ Curiosity took the better of Gaara. _"This person must be rather important to you, if you where willing to putt your life on the line for this individual. Why go through all this for just 1 person?"_ He wrapped his hands into each other and leaned his chin onto his hands as he placed his full attention to the young girl. _"Because… H-He's a very important person to me."_ She blushed heavily listening to herself almost confessing her feeling to someone who she still considers a stranger and someone pretty scary. Gaara was intrigued by this girl. He felt something he hadn't felt before, as far as he could remember. He was both curious and moved by this girl. He shifted his eyes into the shadows, but quickly shifted them back at her, forming somewhat of a smile on his face. _"If you tell me who this person is, I could see what I can do for you in trying to find something useful for you. It's the least I could do for a shinobi of Konoha."_ Hinata blushed even more now, and lost to suppress the urge to fiddle her fingers. She looked down to her fiddling fingers. _"U-Uzumaki N-Naruto-kun……"_

Gaara stood up from his chair, and walked over to the edge of his desk, facing the wall which was covered in a dark shadow, and kept his sort of smile. _"Uzumaki Naruto… Even though we owe Konoha a lot, I personally have a owe Uzumaki Naruto a large dept. He taught me that even for a person like myself, who only knew darkness, to find a light. He shown me that even I have a purpose in live."_ He turned towards Hinata again who looked at him with wide eyes. _"Uzumaki Naruto had been a guest of this village twice in the past year. The last time he left our gates was only two weeks ago." _Hinata was speechless. She didn't even had to use up the last of her courage to ask him if he could help her find the whereabouts of Naruto. She listens carefully as the young Kazekage continues. _"I believe he mentioned that he and his sensei planned on going to a village four days from here. If you won't mind staying here for the rest of the day, so you could recover your strength. I'll arrange shelter and food for you."_ Hinata stood up, and bowed politely and respectfully towards Gaara. _"A-Arigato Kazekage-sama!"_ Gaara nods towards Hinata and turned his eyes towards the door. _"Temari!"_ The door opened again, and Temari walked in. _"You called Kazekage-sama?"_ Gaara walked back to his chair behind the desk, and sat down again. _"Arrange sleeping arrangements and a good meal for our guest."_ Temari bows and walks towards the exit, motioning for Hinata to fallow her. The young Hyuuga girl bowed to Gaara again, and fallowed the sand Kunoichi.

As the door closed, Gaara turned his eyes towards the shadow again. A cloaked figure walked towards him. _"I thank you Gaara… No, Kazekage-sama. I couldn't do it better myself."_ Gaara frowns slightly at the cloaked individual. _"Are you sure this is for the best? Last time she was alone, she nearly gotten killed by four Rain shinobi. When I insisted to check out a report myself, and happen to stumble on them was just pure luck."_ Then cloaked individual shook his head. _"Didn't anybody ever tell you that luck is a part of one's strength?But don't worrie about her, I'll keep an eye out for her."_ Gaara thought for a second about that last fraise. _"It doesn't make sense, but if you say so, I guess its true then."_ The cloaked individual smirked and bowed. _"But if you could excuse me, Kazekage-sama. I have preparations to make before I leave tomorrow."_ Gaara nods, and watches the cloaked figure vanish in a puff of smoke.

Meanwhile, inside the Hokage tower in Konoha, the door to Tsunade's office slammed open.

Tsunade woke up suddenly, still having some drool dropping down her chin. _"Wah? Where's the fire? Gotta save my secret stack of high quality sake!"_ She stood up, and came back to reality when she sees a battered and bruised Kakashi leaning against the door frame. _"Ho-Hokage-sama…"_ Tsunade rushed around her desk and barely caught the wounded Jounin. She eased him down onto the ground, and started to heal the worst of his wounds. _"What in hell happened to you?"_ Kakashi breathed deeply. _"The… The Sound has forged a… a secret alliance with… with the hidden Rain and the… the hidden mist…Th-They are…p-preparing for… s-something… big…ugh…"_ More words didn't come out of the Jounin's mouth as he passed out. _"SHIZUNE! Come help me NOW!"_

A few hours away from the hidden Sand, Kurenai had the others help out preparing the camp.

Tenten and Shikamaru where setting the traps, while Kurenai and Sakura worked on the meal for them all. Shino and Lee went out to find some wood, as Kiba went hunting for meet. Neji set down next to Kurenai, staring into the fire. _"Hinata… She took out two chuunins from the hidden Rain, with what seemed a single punch each. This while didn't seemed to be improving for the last few months."_ Kurenai sighs deeply, while stirring the soap she's cooking. _"You failed to notice she has been this strong, and perhaps even stronger then you thought all this time. She left Konoha to find the key to that strength she doesn't seem to be able to reach out for other wise."_ Kurenai chuckles a bit. _"You might not believe me right away, and maybe even laugh at me for saying this, but I think she might be as strong as you are someday. She just needs the right stimulation to grow."_

Neji kept starring into the fire, not even blinking once. _"Somehow, I feel like you're telling the truth."_ He then smiles a slight bit and turns to Kurenai. _"I noticed this to, when we reached that small village earlier. Normaly Hinata wouldn't be able to keep up with us after traveling that fast. But now we where chasing her, and after these few days, she's still ahead of us. She's proving me wrong again."_ Neji sighs while smiling as he turns back his gaze at the fire. _"This is starting to become a bad habbit."_

"_DINNER'S READY!"_ Sakura pulled Neji out of his trance as she yelled loudly. But as proud as he was, he had to admit that he was rather hungry after the long and exhausting trip. Everybody starting to enjoy their soup, while Kiba was roasting a few rabbits. Le set down next to Kiba, enjoying the smell. _"Hmmm… Smells great Kiba!"_ Kiba smirks while Akamaru started to drool over the smell. _"Just a few more minutes, and they'll be ready to be served."_

Sakura sighs deeply and stares into her mug which was filled with hot soup. Tenten perks up, and focuses her attention on the seemingly depressed pink haired kunoichi. _"Whats wrong Sakura?"_ Without even moving her eyes from her mug, Sakura sighs again. _"I wish…"_ She sighs again as her eyes are starting to water up a slightly bit. _"I wish I could go after him like Hinata went after Naruto… I envy Hinata for being rather lucky knowing that he'll listen to what she wants to say to him." _Tenten chuckles slightly. _"Sakura baka… Everybody has their troubles if it comes to love. Take Hinata for example. She has her shyness that kept her from doing anything about her feelings towards Naruto. Not to mention Naruto's thick headedness for not noticing Hinata's feelings for him, while everybody else did."_ Tenten took a quick glimps at Shikamaru. _"Even he has his problems on this subject….. Watch."_ Tenten giggled a bit as she turned her attention to Shikamaru. _"Hey, Shi-ka-ma-ru."_ The lazy Chuunin turned his head towards Tenten, while sipping a bit of soup. _"What do you want?"_ Tenten grins while Sakura watches. _"You do know that once we enter sand, you'll be in trouble don't you? I mean, she'll be really pissed at you for not thanking her properly a year ago, and didn't even made one attempt to contact her you know."_ Shikamaru's eyes where a slightly bit larger, and turns his head slowly, like a wooden doll, while sweat was breaking out all over his head. He even blushed a slightly bit_. "Of all the women in the world, she HAD to mention her… But she's right though… Things will turn out really troublesome if she decided to turn up."_ He said to himself. He feared this Sand woman more then he feared his mother. She's really scary, but his pride never had him admit this out loud. Troublesome times will arrive sooner or later, but he wouldn't complain if it was later then sooner. To bad though, coz he knew that somehow, those troublesome times will start tomorrow.

Sakura and Tenten giggle at Shikamaru's expression, knowing full well what was bothering him. _"See what I mean Sakura?"_ Sakura nods and takes a sip from her soup. _"But still… I wish I was able to stop him a year ago. Perhaps I might've been happier now…"_ Tenten takes a sip from her soup as well. _"Don't worry Sakura, love will shine upon all of us sooner or later. Even for you and for me."_ Tenten's cheeks turned a slightly bit reddish after shifting her eyes towards a certain Hyuuga in their group. A gaze which Sakura detected quit easily and giggled. _"I suppose so..."_

Back at the hidden Sand village, o knock was hear from the outside of a hotel room. Hinata rushed over to the door and opened it, seeing both Temari as Kankurou standing outside, dressed rather formally. _"Hyuuga Hinata, you are invited to dine by the Kazekage."_ Hinata blinked a few times then looks down, fiddling her fingers again. _"B-But I have nothing formal to wear. I c-can't…"_ The young Hyuuga was cut off by Temari, who pulled out a dress from behind her. _"No problems there! Leave it all to me!"_ Temari walked into the room, and turned to Kankurou. _"Tell Gaara that we'll be a tiny bit later. Okay? Thanks!"_ With that she closed the door.

A few minutes later, Hinata looked into the mirror. She was wearing a beautiful dress, which probably used to belong to Temari as well, seeing as how much skin it revealed. Of course, Hinata blushed at this sight. It was so not her, but she had little choice. She couldn't possibly turn down an invitation by the Kazekage. Temari looked around the corner, smiling proudly at her work. Of course Temari was looking good as well, and she knew it.

The two girls finished up some minor details before finally walking out the door, and head towards a restaurant, where Kankurou waited for them outside muttering. _"I thought you said a few minutes? It's already been a half hour!"_ Temari gave her sibling a glare, which shut him up right away. He then notices Hinata hiding behind Temari. He smiled as he liked what he saw. "_Well it seems some leaf kunoichi actually look good in a dress like that."_ Hinata blushed furiously, not feeling comfortable at all. Temari pushed Kankurou away and dragged Hinata into the restaurant.

After they checked in, they where guided to a large table in the back, where Gaara waited for them. He glared at Temari a bit. _"That sure took you long enough."_ Instead of showing her fear for Gaara, she seemed to be more confident towards him after the changes he went through after he fought Naruto. She returned the glare and sneared somewhat, but still careful about what she was saying. _"You try and look as good as we do and do it within only a few minutes. Pfft!"_ Gaara blinked and folded his hands into each other again. _"I feel no need to do that. It seems rather pointless."_ Temari looked rather insulted, but restrained herself from assaulting Gaara. Coz if she didn't, it wouldn't be good for her at the end. Gaara motions Hinata to sit next to him. _"Hyuuga Hinata, there was one thing I was meaning to ask you after you left. You said that Uzumaki Naruto is a important person to you. I was wondering why he's important to you. I can't seem to find any reason for him to be important to you. Please explain."_ Gaara had his full attention towards Hinata again, forcing her to blush and look away again shyly. Again she felt like being trapped by the Kazekage. She couldn't find anything to get herself out of this situation. A sigh escaped from her mouth. _"I…"_ Gaara blinked once, and even Temari and Kankurou listened with interest. _"I… L-Lo"_ Hinata swallowed and closed her eyes. _"I… L-Love Naruto-kun"_ Temari's mouth dropped and Kankurou looked rather jealous, while Gaara looked down at the table, trying to find the meaning behind this all. The memory of the time that Gai saved Lee from his final attack spooked through his mind. He still didn't understand, and turned back his gaze at Hinata, who he saw was shaking and noticed her face was red all over.

In the hospital of Konoha, Shizune and Tsunade worked hard to try and wake up Kakashi. His wounds where already healed, and it was just a matter of time before he wakes up. The words he spoke before he passed out where disturbing Tsunade. Sound, Rain, and Mist where conspiring against Konoha. She made sure that the defense inside Konoha was at a full alert. All the missions where cancelled, and she send the fastest message bird away to the Hidden Sand to warn them as well. She was hoping Kakashi's observation was a mistake. Konoha wouldn't stand a chance against the Sound, Rain and Mist if they attacked Konoha at the same time. Tsunade lets out a deep and worrying sigh, as she waits for Kakashi to wake up.

Just outside the borders of Konoha to the hidden Sound, two sound shinobi looked at the bodies of seven of their fellow ninja. _"Damn, the one who did this must be pretty strong."_ The other ninja kneeled next to one of the bodies. _"Just look at that hole in his chest... What kinda jutsu was used here? Who did this?"_ Suddenly, behind the one that was kneeling next to the body, another ninja appeared. His raven like black hair danced in the soft breeze as he looked down at the body. _"Kakashi…"_ He whispered to himself with a light chuckle.

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**__**I'll update ASAP. **_

_Thank you for reading this chapter, and i hope you liked it.  
Please review._

_Thanks._


	4. Dark Shadows

_This is my first Naruto Fan Fiction.  
Note that this story is based on a still ongoing Show / Manga in Japan._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!_

_**Please Read and Review.  
Thanks, and enjoy!** _

_I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter. _

_Sorry for the delay peeps. Work and private issues gotten in the way.  
I also decided to drop my DBZ story for the time being, so I can focus on this story._

Update 04-11-2006 : Changed the title of this stor, since it's main focuss is on Hinata, i figured **Naruto - Hinata Gaiden** was more apropriate the **Naruto - Apocalypse**

Thanks for your support.

**_Naruto - Hinata Gaiden._**

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_**Chapter 4 – Dark Shadows.**_

Inside a dark temple, deep within Sound's territory, a shinobi walks through the dark and scary hallway till he reaches a big chamber. At the back of the chamber, a throne like chair stands on an altar with someone sitting in it. The shinobi kneels in front of this person. _"Orochimaru-sama. The squadron send to intercept the Konoha shinobi has failed. Their captain also reported that Konoha has started fortifying their defences."_ Orochimaru stares at the shinobi with disgusted eyes. _"Yet another failure. How disappointing."_ He narrowed his eyes and the temple is filled with the screams of the shinobi. The man standing next to the snake-sennin smiles a bit, while correcting his glasses. _"Was that wise Orochimaru-sama? Although he obviously failed his mission to take care of a simple Konoha spy, he still could've been useful as a foot soldier at the front lines."_ Orochimaru chuckles lightly. _"Perhaps you're right Kabuto. Next time, try and remind me of this. When I get angry, I tend to lose sight of the bigger perspective."_ Kabuto nods. _"As you wish Orochimaru-sama."_

Another figure walked into the chamber, but didn't bow to Orochimaru. Orochimaru chuckled slightly at the appearance of this individual. _"I take it your mission did proceed as planned… Uchiha Sasuke."_ Sasuke nods simply. _"I also stumbled on the bodies of some of the shinobi who where ordered to intercept the spy. It wasn't hard to see who it was."_ Sasuke chuckled slightly and set up a small grin. _"It was non other then Kakashi."_ Orochimaru turned his eyes to Kabuto. _"If I knew the Konoha spy was Kakashi, I would have spared the poor captain. There's no way a small squadron with weaklings could ever stop him."_ He then turned his attention back at Sasuke and chuckles himself. _"Prepare yourself, Sasuke-kun, for tomorrow we will leave."_ Sasuke smirked and turned around. _"I have waited for this for a year now…hehehehe."_ He then walks out of the chamber.

After Hinata and Temari left the restaurant, Gaara took a last sip from his water and stands up as well, and leaves for his office, escorted by Kankurou. After a few minutes of walking, Gaara suddenly stops. Kankuro stopped a few feet in front of Gaara, and looked at him confused. _"What's wrong?"_ Gaara looked up at the sky and sighs. _"Something bad is gonna happen soon. I feel it."_ He then turns his eyes at his sibling. _"Mother is getting restless again, as if she could smell the blood of corpses on a battlefield."_ Gaara started walking again, fallowed by a confused Kankurou.

Once they arrive at Gaara's office, a Jounin barged in carrying a scroll, while breathing deeply. _"Kazekage-sama! An urgent message from the Hokage of Konoha!"_ Gaara takes the scroll, and opens it. While reading the content, his face started to turn sour. After he finished it, he rolled the scroll back up, and tossed it on his desk. Then he turned his attention to Kankurou, looking very serious, giving the puppet master a bad taste in his mouth. _"Kankurou! Assemble all the available captains right now! You!"_ He turned his attention to the other sand shinobi. _"You make sure defence units are doubled!"_ The sand shinobi nods and vanishes in a puff of smoke. Gaara turned to Kankurou, giving him a glare. _"W-Whats wrong? Why assemble all the capt…"_ He quickly gets interrupted by Gaara. _"We're going to war…"_

The next morning, Kurenai, Sakura, Tenten, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Lee and Neji arrive at the gates of the Sand. One of the guards walks up to Kurenai, stopping them in their tracks. _"Halt! Identify yourselves!"_ Kurenai sighs deeply and steps to the guard. _"I'm Yuuhi Kurenai. These are my subordinates, we are Konoha shinobi."_ The guard didn't seem to care even a slight bit. _"State your business!"_ Kurenai sighs deeply, getting rather annoyed with the attitude of the guard, but keeps herself in check. _"We are on a retrieval mission. The daughter of an important clan leader has gone missing, and her tracks lead to your village."_ The guard wanted to ask another question as another shinobi lands next to him. Her blond hair reflects the sunlight into the eyes of the others, having Shikamaru swallow nervously. _"Let them through, they mean no harm to the Sand."_ The guard nods and steps aside. _"Understood Temari-sama."_ Temari motions the Leaf ninja's to fallow her.

As they all walk through the streets of the hidden village of the Sand, Kurenai turns her attention to Temari. _"Tell me, what's up with all this security? Even you seem somewhat tensed up."_ Temari sighs in annoyance. _"It seems there is a high possibility that we will be attacked soon. We just don't have a clue on who, when, or from where the attack will be coming from. Your village, Konoha, is also highly alert."_ Kurenai frowns slightly, knowing that she had taken seven shinobi from Konoha that will be missed if the village would be attacked. This would only mean they had to speed things up and find Hinata faster. Temari turns her eyes to Kurenai. _"You're here to find a kunoichi from your village right? Let me guess, her name is Hyuuga Hinata right ?"_ Kurenai blinks in surprise. _"As a matter a fact, we are. How did you know? Wait… She was here?"_ Temari smiles and nods. _"She left only an hour ago." The Konoha female Jounin frowns slightly. "I guess our stay at the Sand will be short one. Please tell me where she is headed."_

As Temari told Kurenai where Hinata was headed, Shikamaru was walking in the far back of the group, trying not to be noticed. Tenten slowed down, and walked next to the lazy Nara. _"Whats wrong Shikamaru? It's not like she hasn't noticed you yet."_ Tenten smiled as Shikamaru sighted deeply. "_Troublesome indeed…"_ As he looked in the direction of the Sand kunoichi, he was caught within the glare from her to him. He could feel his knees treble a bit. This woman was far more scary then his own mother. He knew he wouldn't be able to avoid the fury of Temari this time. Mentally he has been thinking of thousands of possible attempts of avoiding her since he knew they where going to the Sand, but none ended up in a good way for him. He also prepared himself for the worst case scenario. He turned his gaze at Tenten with a worried look on his face. _"If I end up missing, please continue the mission. The chance that I'd survive is very slim…"_ Tenten couldn't help it but smirk at Shikamaru's response.

Kurenai nods at Temari. _"Thanks. When we caught up to her, we'll take a detour to check if you need any help."_ Temari smiles. _"It's a good thing our villages decided to form an alliance. If we need your help, it'll be appreciated greatly."_ Kurenai smiled and turns to the others behind her. _"Okay people, we're leaving right away. Hinata only has about an hour head start now. Neji, your Byakugan should be able to detect her now right?"_ Neji nods, and activated his bloodline limit. The Konoha shinobi suddenly vanish in a blur, continuing their mission. However, before Shikamaru could fallow, he found his road being blocked by Temari, who stared almost right through him.

"_I believe that you still need to thank me for rescuing you from that sound woman."_ The corner of Shikamaru's mouth twitches a bit as he replies to Temari, obviously not feeling to comfortable at that moment. _"W-Why would I do a troublesome thing like that ?"_ This wasn't the response Temari was aiming for and gave the Konoha shinobi a glare that could kill thousands. This look on her face made Shikamaru take 2 steps back very slowly. The easiest way out, is to thank her, but this strategy would only work to save his neck at that moment. He knew that in the long run, his sign of submission would cause bigger problems in the future. He remembers how his father gets bossed around by his mother all the time, and how he told him if he's wanted an easy life in the future, never to show a sign of submission in front of a woman. But what other choice does he have? If he would resist her even more, she'd probably kill him more brutally then he could ever imagine.

The tapping sound of Temari's right foot made his ears twitch. He then decided the easiest way out is to let her kill him right there and then, and save him the trouble of being tormented in the future like his father.

Then the tapping sound stopped, and a sight escaped Temari's lips. _"I guess you leave me no other choice then huh ?"_ The sand kunoichi grabbed shikamaru's vest and stared at him again. This was it. It was the end for him he thought. He closed his eyes, and waited for the feeling of a kunai to penetrate his chest or cut his throat or something. But instead of pain and suffering, he felt something soft and moist pressing against his lips. A warm feeling filled his entire body, and as he opened his eyes to see what happened, he saw Temari's face pull away from his.

"_Very well, I'll let you go for now, but I expect you to return and thank me later. I don't have time to torture you right now."_ With that she turned around and walked away from the stunned Shikamaru, who was, for the first time in his life, utterly confused. Then it hit him like 10 tons of bricks. This is starting to become something truly troublesome indeed…..

About an hour travelling away from the hidden village of the sound, Hinata saw a few trees appear on the horizon. The small village Gaara told her about was only 4 hours away now, and she started thinking. If Naruto left the hidden Sand village so long ago, how long would it take her to find him? It would probably take weeks, if not, months.

One hour later she already entered the tree lines of the forest, and decided to speed up a bit. Hinata seemed somewhat happy, seeing how much she actually improved after all that training she did after the Chuunin exams. The Hyuuga leaped gracefully from branch to branch at high speed, trying to save some time. Then suddenly she stopped at a branch, and turned around. She sensed multiple movements behind her, and activates her Byakugan and stared behind her, noticing a movement of eight three-man teams of shinobi heading away from her towards the hidden Sand. Hinata deactivated her Byakugan with a relieved sigh and continued her journey to the small village, just to be stopped in her tracked by cloaked figure, who seemed to have avoided her 360 degree vision with her Byakugan.

A bit more then a hour away from her, Shikamaru rejoined the other leaf shinobi, and was greeted by Tenten with a wicked grin on her face. Neji already notified Kurenai that Hinata had travelled out of the range of his vision. _"Okay, now that we are complete again, we'll need to speed up even more. Hinata is increasing the distance between us as we speak." _And with that the team of leaf shinobi increased their speed, just to be stopped moments later by Kiba and Akamaru, who smelled that they where not alone anymore. Before Kiba could tell his team-mates about the situation, they found themselves surrounded by 9 shinobi of the hidden Mist, and 15 from the hidden Rain. Needles to say, the leaf shinobi where at a large disadvantage.

One of the Rain shinobi threw 3 umbrella's into the air, and quickly performed seals. _"Ame-Koutetsu!"_ The umbrella's suddenly start to spin rapidly, and hurl down countless steel spikes (Steel-Rain) upon the leaf shinobi. Neji suddenly jumped into the air and spin around quickly in mid-air. _"Kaiten!"_ The sphere of chakra reflected all the steel needles, before he lands back onto the ground between his comrades. At that moment Shino started his counter offensive, having his bugs fly out of his body, heading towards the shocked Rain shinobi. A hidden Mist shinobi jumped in front of his Rain ally, forming seals. _"Suiton-Bakushouha!"_ From his mouth, the mist shinobi spit out large quantities of water, creating a tsunami in the middle of the forest, forcing the bugs, as well as the leaf ninja's back. However, the Rain and Mist shinobi suddenly collapse from chakra exhaustion, as the bugs that crawled out of the ground and onto their victims. Lee ripped straight through the wall of water, and made his right foot a part of a Rain shinobi's face, sending the poor soul flying into a large tree. And while Kurenai had 3 Rain and one Mist shinobi turn on each other with a genjutsu technique, Kiba and Akamaru attack 2 Mist shinobi with their Garouga attack.

The cloaked figure that blocked Hinata's path. The face of the person couldn't be seen by the kunoichi, but she could feel the eyes of the cloaked figure almost burning into her. Then, a second cloaked figure landed on the branch behind her. The figure in front of her, who was much taller then the one behind her, started to talk to her. _"I heard you where looking for the one called Uzumaki Naruto. We came here to deliver a message to you. You should stop your search for him, and return. He will return to your village in 2 years as his sensei promised."_ The voice from the cloaked figure in front of her seemed that of a middle aged to older man. Hinata shook her head and sighs. _"I cannot do that. I left so I can face my greatest fear. Right now I'm still weak, and can't seem to improve at all. I believe facing Naruto-kun will give me the courage and inspiration to become stronger."_ The figure behind her clutched it's fists, but before responding, the larger figure spoke again. _"There is no need for that now. Travelling all this way on your own made you stronger already. Besides, the comrades send after you from your village are under siege as we speak by shinobi from the hidden villages of Rain and Mist. They need your help."_ Hinata let her sight drop down, feeling as if she'd failed her personal quest already. A smile appeared on the face of the smaller cloaked figure behind her. _"What would Uzumaki Naruto think if you'd leave your comrades to die for your own selfish reasons?"_ Those harsh words where the last of the cloaked figure is it suddenly vanishes in a blur. Hinata suddenly looked up with huge eyes. That voice….. She was sure of it…. It was him… But when she turned her head around, the cloaked figure was already gone. Hinata wanted to ask the other cloaked figure a question, but he too was gone. A single tear fell down Hinata's cheek, as she knew they where right… Her personal quest ended there.

The situation for the Leaf shinobi grew more desperate by the second, as Kurenai, who had 2 Mist shinobi in her genjutsu, she felt a sharp pain in her back. A needle from a Rain ninja stuck out of her back, and she fell down to her knees. _"Ugh….. Poison….."_ A second later, she completely collapsed onto the ground, while Kiba desperately fights a Rain ninja, while keeping the knocked-out Akamaru behind him. Lee and Neji stood back too back, fending off a Mist and 2 Rain ninja. Shino used his bugs, and Tenten her long range weapons to keep 1 Mist and 4 Rain Ninja at a distance, while Sakura attends the wounds of Shikamaru, who took a large amount of steel needles in order to keep them from hitting Sakura. She took out the needles one by one, and healed the wounds, while the chuunin winched in pain. _"Why did you do a stupid think like that idiot? You could have died!"_ Shikamaru smirked slightly. _"If I didn't block the attack, you would've been hit. When you're incapacitated, who would take care of our wounds? And you call me an idiot… OUCH!"_ Sakura, in anger, yanked out 5 needles out of Skikamaru's leg rather roughly. Suddenly the chuunin formed a seal. _"Kagemane no jutsu!"_ His shadow suddenly extended rapidly, and stopped the movement of the 2 Mist ninja's and a Rain ninja, who where about to end Kurenai's life abruptly. He sighs in relief . _"Kagemane no jutsu success. Guess with the little chakra I have left I have no choice but to reduce their numbers by 3…. Kage Kubishibari no jutsu!" _The shadows slide up the bonded shinobi, and formed the shape of hands, till it stretched out all the way to their necks. The victims of Shikamaru's technique screamed in terror for a short moment, before they are silenced permanently with the distinguished sound of their necks breaking.

Out of 9 Mist and 15 Rain shinobi that attacked them, 1 Mist and 4 Rain shinobi are still standing. Lee, Shikamaru, Kurenai, Tenten, Akamaru and Shino where knocked out of the fight as well, leaving only Kiba, Sakura, and Neji standing. However, none of them have much chakra left to putt up much of a fight. Neji took a needle in the shoulder, which paralysed his entire right arm. Kiba charged at the 5 ninja with his Gatsuuga technique, but before he could even get close to them, his attack was countered by another steel needle attack from the Rain ninja, leaving only an exhausted Sakura, and a badly beaten Neji to fend off the 5 enemies.

On top of the high walls of the hidden Sand village, Gaara observed the battle down on the ground. Although he was expecting a massive invasion force from both the hidden Rain and Mist, there where barely 100 enemy ninja's attack the village. Kankurou landed next to Gaara. _"The scouts we sent out earlier have all reported back. The weird thing is, there are no reinforcements of any kind within or just outside of our territory."_ Gaara turned his eyes to Kankurou shortly before shifting them back at the battlefield. _"Not only that, but most of the enemies we face today are not even worth mentioning. We have lost none of our troops, while the have lost many. Even their tactics ar poor. This can't be an invasion force from 2 hidden shinobi villages."_ Suddenly the smaller cloaked figure appears behind Gaara, startling Kankurou. _"That's cause this isn't an invasion force. It's a diversion. The real battle is raging somewhere els."_ Gaara narrowed his eyes. _"Konoha…"_

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__I'll update ASAP. _

_Thank you for reading this chapter, and i hope you liked it.  
Please review._

_Thanks._


	5. Assault on Konoha

_This is my first Naruto Fan Fiction.  
Note that this story is based on a still ongoing Show / Manga in Japan._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!_

_**Please Read and Review.  
Thanks, and enjoy!** _

_I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter. _

_Somehow, i didn't like chapter 4 as much as the other 3, but it's a part of the story anyway.  
I finished this one faster then I thought, since I really enjoyed writing this one. So I hope you like to read it as much as I did writing it. _

**Naruto - Hinata Gaiden.**

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**_Chapter 5 – Assault on Konoha._**

Somewhere, in a dark cave the images of 9 figures appear. The images seem to be shadows with some added details to them to make them look like individuals. One of them opened his eyes, and stared at two others. _"It seems that the village of the hidden Leaf is under siege by Orochimaru and his allies. Since you two lost track of the Kyuubi kid a while ago, we should assume he could be anywhere. For all we know the Kyuubi kid could be hidden inside the village of the hidden Leaf, and is also threatened by Orochimaru's ambitions. Therefore it is time to end his so called immortal life."_ The other two nodded in agreement. _"KuKuKuKu…… I guess you'll get to save your foolish little brother after all, huh Itachi ?" _A pair of Sharingan eyes turned to Deidara slowly. _"That's not what was suggested. Besides, he doesn't need saving."_

Deep inside the forest that surrounds Konoha, two sinister eyes opened inside the shadow of a large tree. _"It's time…" _The Sound ninja next to the figure inside the shadow nodded and gave a hand signal to a college who shot an arrow into the sky, which exploded into a red cloud.

At that moment three teams of sound shinobi performed a summoning jutsu, having a large snake appear at the three spots. These snakes immediately charged at the walls of the hidden village from 3 sides. Before the guards, who stood inside the guard towers, could react, the snakes already destroyed the towers, and made their way through the walls.

The Leaf's military forces where prepared, and acted almost instantly. The Anbu forces where the first to arrive and attacked the snake that entered the village in the south. The snake that entered the east wall, was countered by Akimichi Chouza's Mega Baika no Jutsu. Although Chouza was now larger then the snake, he still had trouble fighting it, while the final snake was countered by another Anbu squad.

Gaara, who frowned when he learned that the attack on his village was only a diversion, he vanished from the massive wall, just to reappear on the ground. The Rain and Mist shinobi charged at him, but Gaara only lifted both his hands, while staring at his attackers. _"Sabaku Kyuu!"_ suddenly, the Rain and Mist shinobi where stopped in their tracks by sand that crawled up their bodies, and covered them completely one by one. Moments later all the shinobi that where charging at him, where covered with the living sand as Gaara folded his hands into fists. _"Sabaku Soushou!" _With that the shinobi's where crushed by the pressure the sand suddenly forced onto their bodies. They didn't had the chance to start screaming. As fast as the attack started, it also ended.

Gaara reappeared on top of the massive wall next to Kankurou and the cloaked figure. _"Kankurou, call all the captains to my office. We need to move out to aid Konoha as soon as possible!"_ Gaara turned his attention to the cloaked figure shortly. _"We'll head for Konoha as fast as we can."_ The larger cloaked figure appeared at the other side of the Kazekage. _"We'll head out as well, but we will only get involved if we have no other choice. You know we need to keep a low profile for at least 2 more years."_ Gaara and the smaller cloaked figure nodded. And just as they appeared, the cloaked figures vanished from the wall.

Without the required amount of charka to even activate his Byakugan, Neji felt rather helpless as the 4 Rain ninja and the final Mist ninja advanced to finish the job. Both Sakura and Neji stood firmly in front of their fallen comrades when suddenly one of the Rain ninja's darted forwards, and hurled 3 needles in their direction. Without his Byakugan, Neji saw the attack to late and braced himself to take the hits, when Sakura jumped in front of him, hitting 2 needles away with her kunai, taking one in her left wrist as it protected her face from getting hit. At that moment, another Rain ninja moved in between Sakura and Neji, slamming an umbrella in Neji's face with his left hand, having the Hyuuga staggered back a bit, while slamming a needle deeply into Sakura's left knee. The pink haired kunoichi screamed in pain as she fell to the ground, holding her pierced knee.

When the Hyuuga finally regained his balance he was kicked in the face by the Rain shinobi that charged at them first. With a thud, Neji fell to the ground, while the Rain ninja that pierced Sakura's knee pulled out 3 more needles while grinning widely. _"Ohhhhh…… I'm gonna enjoy making scream and cry in pain little girl, before slowly letting you bleed to death. Hehehehe!"_ Sakura suddenly felt a sharp pain in her shoulder after the Rain ninja slammed a needle into her with brute force. He then started to twist and turn the needle, which she could feel scraping against her shoulder bone. Tears fell from her eyes while she screamed out loudly in pain. Neji slowly gotten back onto his feet, seeing and of course hearing the torment Sakura was in. But before he could even set one step into her direction a fist impacted with his face, knocking him against a tree with his back. The Rain ninja chuckled lightly to the Hyuuga. _"Don't you worry. I'm not as brutal is him. I'll end your miserable life quite fast and painlessly."_ With that he drew his, rather special looking, umbrella, which he had a blade slide out of at the end. Without any warning he thrusted his the closed umbrella towards Neji's chest.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a smoke bomb exploded between the Rain shinobi and Neji. As the smoke cleared, the blade of the umbrella was slammed into the trunk of the tree, inches away from his head. The Rain ninja had large eyes, with very small pupils, and was obviously experiencing something painful. As the smoke cleared even more it was clearly seen what happened. By knocking the right arm of the Rain shinobi upwards, the umbrella's blade missed Neji's body, while the palm of the right hand was pressed against the shinobi's chest. Hinata arrived just in time to save her cousin from a fatal blow to the chest.

The Rain shinobi spat out some blood before finally collapsing onto the forest ground, as Hinata already had reached out into her bag, pulling out 3 kunai. She darted sideways, and hurled the 3 kunai towards the Rain shinobi that was busy torturing Sakura. Just before the kunai hit, the Rain shinobi performed a Kawarimi no jutsu, replacing himself with a dead lug. However, even though he reappeared above her in an attempt to counter her attack, she clearly saw his movements easily with her Byakugan vision. Just before he could bury 2 needles into the small girl from above, the palm of the same girl's hand slammed upwards, hitting his lower jaw. The poor shinobi wasn't even allowed to notice his error as the Hyuuga Jyuken technique had already destroyed his brains.

As the corpse fell down, the other 2 Rain shinobi performed some handseals. "Jouro Senbon!" They threw their umbrella's into the air, and had them spin rapidly, before they started bombard Hinata with solid steel needles. The force that was used to hurl the rain of needles down to the ground caused dust and leaves to fill the air. As the dust and leaves fell back to the ground, the dead lug on the ground, pierced with hundreds of needles is seen where Hinata stood before the rain of needles hit the ground. The hidden Mist shinobi already jumped out of the way quickly, as the young Hyuuga girl reappeared between the 2 Rain shinobi and gave her cousin a quick smile. _"Acknowledge this Neji-nisan……"_ With that she slid into a stance Neji knew al to well, and watched her with his large surprised pale eyes. _"Hakkeshou, Baizou Rokuyuu Yonshou!" **(1)**_

With graceful movement Hinata dances around and between the 2 Rain shinobi knocking out the first serie of 2 tenkutsu of both Rain ninja's. _"Hakke! Two strikes!"_ With another swift and graceful move she performed the second part of the technique, hitting 2 more tenkutsu from each target. _"Four strikes!"_ Again Hinata gracefully continues the combo. _"Eight strikes!"_ Her hands swiftly hit their targets with grace and power. _"Sixteen strikes!" _Her arms strike faster now, already hard to fallow for the common eye. _"Thirty-two strikes!" _Before the 2 Rain ninja could express the pain of the hits they take, they where already hit by the next set. _"Sixty-four strikes!"_ With the final set of breathtaking moves Hinata finishes the technique, knocking out the last 2 Rain ninja's.

The Mist shinobi, the last standing opponent, watched with terrified eyes how the young Leaf kunoichi finished off the last 2 Rain shinobi with a lightning fast combo. As their eyes met, the last standing Mist ninja decided that the best and safest way to deal with this opponent is make a tactical retreat, and vanished after throwing a smoke bomb to cover his tracks. As the smoke cleared he was gone.

Hinata deactivated her Byakugan and ran to Sakura, to see how badly hurt she was. Neji, exhausted and wounded, slowly made his way to his younger niece. _"How, and when did you learn that ?" _Hinata carefully pulled out the needles from Sakura's body while responding to her cousin's question. _"Like many other shinobi, I too learned new ways to defeat an opponent. This was one of the perhaps instantly adapted ones."_ She helped Sakura up, and slowly moved over to where their other wounded and exhausted friends where.

Kurenai's body slowly eliminated the poison, as she slowly regained consciousness, while Shino, also woken up from his forced slumber, took Kiba back to the group, and took care of his wounds. Lee still couldn't move cause of the wounds inflicted by the Mist and Rain shinobi. Shikamaru took care of Tenten her cuts and bruises, while he started to talk to Sakura. _"I take it you don't have any charka left to start working on our wounds, right ?"_ She shook her head negatively at Shikamaru, while Hinata wraped around a band-aid to stop the bleeding from the wounds on her shoulder and knee. _"Ano… Doesn't Kiba usually carry soldier pills with him ?"_ Shino immediately checked Kiba's pockets, and found a small bag filled with soldier pills. He then tossed them over to Hinata, who offered one to Sakura. _"F-For temporary charka buildup." _Sakura looked at Hinata for a second and smiled, before taking the pill. _"Thanks for returning Hinata. We would've been finished, if you hadn't returned. What made you turn around anyway?" _Hinata sighs. _"I… S-Shouldn't you start healing yourself and the others S-Sakura-san ?" _Sakura looked a bit confused, but decided it could wait till the others where all patched up.

Some time later, as Sakura was working on Lee's wounds, after healed Shino, Akamaru, Kiba and Kurenai, the Jounin walked over to Hinata, and sat down next to her. Hinata looked a bit sad and sighs deeply as she finaly noticed Kurenai. _"I-I'm sorry… If I hadn't left the village you all wouldn't be hurt…"_ Kurenai smiled at her student, and knew it was useless to try and take her guilt away, but also knew how to make her feel a bit better. _"Perhaps. But if it wasn't for you, we all would've been killed for sure. You even seemed to have amazed Neji with you courage and strength."_ Hinata turned her sight from the ground towards her cousin, finding him replying her gaze with a smile and a complementing nod. With just that look of Neji's face, Hinata's mood was much better already, and turned her attention back to Kurenai. _"I guess I was stronger then I thought I was before I left…"_ Kurenai gave her a nod, agreeing with her. "Perhaps this trip was ment for you to open your eyes, and see your true strength." Hinata turned her sight back onto the ground and smiles. _"I believe so to. However, I still feel there is more…"_ The young jounin chuckled lightly, surprising the young Hyuuga. _"There's always something more. There is always a new level to surpass as a ninja. Even Sandaime, at his old age, was training to surpass his limits as a shinobi."_ Again Kurenai smiled, this time to herself. _"Take Naruto as an example. During his time at the academy he wasn't very good at anything. It all started to change after the night before the day the genin teams where selected. When Iruka was facing serten death, he defended him with powers he never shown before. The same go's for you. You grew much stronger then anyone thought. Even you doubted your own abilities. However, if you just asked Kiba and Shino how much you've improved yourself as a shinobi, they would've told you the truth."_ Kurenai turned to her student, and smiled at her again. _"You are probably the strongest of the team. And today you shown why they thought this."_ Tears started to fall from Hinata's eyes slowly. _"Thank you sempai."_

After everyone had recovered, the 9 leaf shinobi made their way back to the hidden sand village.

Two and a half days later in Konoha a explosion whipped out a small house, as the burning corpse of a leafe chuunin fell down onto the ground. From the burning wreckage a figure appeared. A wall collapsed close to the young man, and a sound ninja jumped onto the rubble, just to be punched through the wall next to the huge hole by Chouji, who appeared from the rubble. As Chouji turned around he was shocked, as he stood face to face with the figure. _"Y-You……"_ At that moment Ino leaped through the hole in the wall Chouji arranged, throwing a few kunai. _"Chouji! Stop slacking and protect me already!"_ When she didn't get an answer from her teammate she turned, seeing him trembling. _"Chouji! Don't tell you're in a Genjutsu!"_ That's when she noticed the figure standing in front of the inferno her eyes widened in shock. His raven black her danced from the heat behind him, and his black eyes pierced straight through hers. _"S-Sasuke…k-kun… W-Why a-are you h-here…?"_ The young Uchiha smirked at the question of the trembling blond. _"Kukukuku… Isn't it obvious? I'm here to destroy Konoha…Are you going to try and stop me ? Or will you choose to be wise and run?"_ As Sasuke took a step into their direction, both Chouji and Ino took a step back. At that moment a Konoha genin, maybe a year or 2 older then Chouji and Ino, jumped down a building prepairing to slice open Sasuke's body with his kunai, but the Uchiha only lifted his arm, and 3 long snakes surged out of his sleeves, biting the unlucky genin in his right upper leg, his left side, and his neck. As the genin fell down, he started to moan in main a short while, before dieing from the poison that entered his body through the snake bites. Tears filled Ino's eyes, while Chouji's body couldn't even move in fear, as Sasuke slowly walked past them, chuckling deviously. That's when Ino snapped out of her trance, and stared at the corpse of the genin before them. She finaly relised the Uchiha Sasuke she knew no longer existed. She gave Chouji a slap across his face as she turned around, while already holding a kunai. _"Chouji… We are Konoha shinobi… O-Our job is to defend the village, even if it costs us our lives… And we'll need to fight anyone who invades our territory… Even if… if…"_ Chouji place a reassuring hand on his teammates shoulder shortly, before stepping forwards. _"I know Ino… Thanks for reminding me… SASUKE! WE CANNOT ALOW YOU TO GO ANY FERTHER!"_

Sasuke turned around, and chuckled lightly. _"I guess you 2 will entertain me for a little bit then I guess. Kukukuku."_ Right at that moment, Chouji performed a Katateoichi Baika No Jutsu to increase his left arm, and tries to punch Sasuke, who jumped up to avoid the powerful punch. Ino jumped up at that moment, and hurled 3 shuriken at Sasuke, who easily knocks them away with his kunai. But in the meantime Chouji retracted his left arm, and used the same jutsu to increase his right arm, and punch Sasuke in mid-air. Unable to dodge the punch in any way, he took the full force of the punch, slams into a wall of a building and falls down onto the ground. He slowly rose back onto his feet and smirked while whipping some blood from his mouth. _"I guess I kinda underestimated you 2. But don't worry, it's a one time mistake, which I'll correct in a moment…. Sharingan!"_ His black eyes turned red with 3 strange pupils inside. Again, Chouji enlarged his left arm, and attempts to squash Sasuke, but the Uchiha easily dodged the attack, with incredible speed he reappeared infront of the large genin, and knocked the air out of him, with an extraordinary powerful punch to his stomach. As Chouji bend forwards in pain, his face met with Sasuke's uppercut, knocking him a few feet into the air. As the heavy shinobi spit out some blood, Sasuke already appeared above him in mid air, and backhanded him back down to the ground. The ground quaked heavily as Chouji crashed into the ground. At that moment, Ino threw 6 kunai at Sasuki. As the kunai hit him in the back, he appeared to have used the Kawarimi technique, and replaced himself with wooden door. Ino noticed the change to slow, and as she was in the middle if her turn, to look behind her, Sasuke lands a fast and powerful kick to her face, knocking her against a wall with her back. Chouji grabs Sasuke with 2 large hands, pulling him into the air, but made the mistake to shortly lower his sight to his knocked out friend. _"Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"_ Chouji felt his arms burning and replaced himself with a piece of a wall before the huge fireball would've toasted him. However, Sasuke's Sharingan easily tracked Chouji's movements, and he performed a few seals rapidly, before hi hit the ground, and gathered a large amount of charka in his hand, which made a loud noice. _"Chidori!"_ As he landed onto the ground, he immediately darted towards Chouji, who could barely see Sasuke's move, but at the last moment, Ino jumped infront of Chouji, taking Sasuke's full attack in the right side of her chest. Sasuke's attack was to strong for Ino's attempt to keep Chouji from getting hit by it as Sasuke's hand went straight through her, and stopped halfway in the larger genin's chest. Sasuke ripped his hand out of his former comrade's chests with a devious grin on his face, and watched them collapse onto the ground. He deactivated his Sharingan, and walked past Ino and Chouji again, knowing they won't be able to stand up to him anymore. _"Weak…"_ Chouji crawled closer to the gorgeous blond, who was now covered in blood. _"Why Ino?"_ He coughs up some blood. _"W-Why did you do a stupid thing like that ?"_ Ino managed to give Chouji a slight smile. _"I didn't know trying to save the life of a presious friend was a stopid thing….. But then… It didn't help much huh?"_ Those where the last words from the blond kunoichi before she closed her eyes, letting a single tear fall down her cheek. Chouji to couldn't stay conscious for much longer. Ï-If only Shikamaru was here…… We could've won……" With those last words, he to closed his eyes, and rested his head onto the cold ground, while holding Ino's hand.

At that moment, Kurenai, Shikamaru, Sakura, Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, Lee, Tenten, Neji and Hinata met up with the forces of the hidden sand, and where a few moments away from Konoha. Shikamaru suddenly felt really sick, and stopped at a branch to throw up. Sakura stopped next to him. _"Are you alright Shikamaru ?"_ The look on the Nara's face as he turned to Sakura shocked her. _"Something has happened… Something with Chouji and Ino… Something bade… Really bad… We need to hurry…" _Sakura nodded, and the Chuunin and the genin from Konoha continued their trip back to their home, which they knew was in great peril. Smoke rose above the tops of the highest trees, with Akamaru and Kiba smell the mixed sent of fire and blood all around them.

Kurenai suddenly stops and turns to the others. _"From now on we are entering a war zone. I want you all to split into 3 groups, and help where ever help is needed. Neji, you'll take command of your own team. Head for the gate, where I suspect their will be most of the fighting. Shino, Hinata and Kiba go with them, and split from their group once you arrive at the gates, and help with the defense of the village. Shikamaru, Sakura and I will enter the village at the east side."_ All the shinobi nod in understanding. _"Okay then. From now on, watch each others backs, and don't die. Good luck. Scatter!"_ With that they all vanished from that spot.

Inside the east section of Konoha, Kurenai, Sakura and Shikamaru carefully move over the rooftops. By the looks of all the corpses on the ground and on top of the same roofs, the battle was intense in this section a day before. Suddenly, as they pass over an intersection, Shikamaru feels a sudden chill down his spine, and stops. He turns to look into the street he senses the unpleasant feeling from. Kurenai and Sakura land next to him. _"There is something over there. I just have no idea what it is. I just know I don't like it."_ Sakura too felt a chill running down her spine, while Kurenai looks into the street. _"Okay, we have to check it out, even if it might be a false alarm or a trap. Sakura, you take the left, Shikamaru, take the center of the street, while I cover you from the roofs."_ With that Shikamaru and Sakura jump off the roofs, and carefully walk into the street. All they could see was rubble, and burning buildings. Suddenly Shikamaru stopped, and started to tremble violently. Sakura called out for Kurenai, and they both moved to the chuunin. Sakura though first it was some kind of genjutsu, but ruled it out when she senced the charka flow from him was normal. _"Whats wrong Shikamaru ?"_ Tears started to fall down his cheeks as he took a few slow steps forwards before pointing towards 2 bodies in the middle of the street. Sakura turned her head, and immediately recognized Chouji and Ino lying on the ground. _"NO!"_ She quickly made her way to the two genin, and checks for any life signs. _"Shikamaru! Kurenai-sama! They are still alive! But we need to get them to the hospital ASAP!"_ Shikamaru slowly lifted the heavy genin up, as he slowly opened his eyes shortly. _"S-Shika ?"_ the brilliant chunnin turned, and stared into the beaten eyes of his best friend. _"I-If you where here sooner… We could've beaten him…"_ Shikamaru looked a bit puzzled. _"Who ?"_ Chouji coughed a bit before answering. _"S-Sasuke…"_ With that the Akimichi passed out again. Shikamaru turned to Sakura, who held Ino, and stared at Chouji with a shocked expression. _"It… Can't be…" _

Kurenai helped Shikamaru carrying Chouji, and speeded towards the hospital as fast as they could. Once there, Sakura helped the medics out, treating the wounds. Shizune, who was already at the hospital, also helped out, guided the 2 wounded genin into special rooms, where they treated the wounds with advanced medical jutsu's. Sakura ran along with her, but was stopped at the entrance by Tsunade. _"Sensei, please let me help! I…"_ Tsunade shook her head negatively. _"You should go back outside, and help by giving first-aid for those that need it. What takes place behind these doors is still to advanced for you. Leave your friends to me and Shizune. We'll do everything in out power to save them. Now please, go out side, and help the other wounded that need treatment."_ Sakura lowers her head, turns and leaves, to do what her sensei asked her to do. Tsunade turned to Kurenai. _"I'll take your report after this crisis is over. Till then, go and help out with the defense of the village."_ The young jounin nods and vanishes in a blur. Tsunade sighs briefly, then turns and enters the same room, Ino was taken into.

Lee and Tenten where separated from Neji by 5 sound ninja's as Neji chased his opponent just outside the gates of Konoho, where he defeats him. But before he could return to his teammates, his senses where triggered, as somebody appeared behind him. A smile formed on the Hyuuga's face as he recognized the one standing a few meters behind him. _"I always wanted to fight you to see which of our bloodlines was the better one, but after you ran away a year ago, I predicted that my chances of fighting you where nearly gone. Guess my predictions are a tad bit faulty, don't you think? Uchiha Sasuke ?"_ Behind the Hyuuga, a soft chuckle was heard. A soft but please chuckle. _"Yes. I to wanted to fight you. I wanted to fight you ever since the Chuunin exams. But you ended up being beaten by a dropout. So I thought you might not be much of a challenge after all."_ The Hyuuga chuckled at those words, while the Uchiha continued. _"But now, you have the means to try and prove me wrong, don't you?" _Neji turned around slowly, facing Sasuke. _"Indeed I have…"_

Both slowly slid into their respected battle stances, grinning pleased with the outcome of this war. Both ready to start an epic battle between 2 geniuses.  
_"Byuakugan!"  
"Sharingan!"_

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(1) - The 64 hit combo that Neji used on Naruto during the chuunin exams, but the doubled. With other words, a 64 hit combination on each of the 2 targets. **

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Hint's for the next chapter: **Neji & Hinata vs Sasuke** and **Orochimaru & Kabuto vs Itachi & Kisame** in: 

**Naruto – Hinata Gaiden**

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_Epic battle: Byakugan vs Sharingan_**

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__I'll update ASAP. _

_Thank you for reading this chapter, and i hope you liked it.  
Please review._

_Thanks._


	6. Byakugan VS Sharingan!

_This is my first Naruto Fan Fiction.  
Note that this story is based on a still ongoing Show / Manga in Japan._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!_

_**Please Read and Review.  
Thanks, and enjoy!** _

_I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter.  
Update 10-12-2007 written at the bottem of this chapter. And don't worry, it's good news _

**Naruto - Hinata Gaiden.**

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**_Chapter 6 – Epic battle: Byakugan vs Sharingan!_**

Shikamaru stared at the ground. What ever went through the chuunin's mind, only he could keep track off. The one thing that the medics knew about what went through his mind, where mostly about his badly wounded teammates, Chouji and Ino. He seemed to have shut himself off from what ever happened around him. Somehow, the only thing that suddenly pulled him back to reality was the voice of a familiar kunoichi. The voice alone made him shiver, and for good reason. This female was even scarier then his own mother.

"_And again I find you here being your usual cry-baby self. What happened this time?"_ Shikamaru sighs deeply, obviously sad. _"I don't really want to talk about it …"_ But he quickly remembered who he was talking to and needed to correct himself really fast. _".. but I guess I have nothing better to do now anyway. After we split up, I found my 2 teammates badly wounded."_ He sighs deeply before continuing. _"But the possibility they might die from their wounds is pretty real."_ Temari followed his gaze to the ground shortly. _"You're talking like they are dead already. Remember, they are alive until they leave the rooms in a body bag. Till then, you should keep your head up, and just work harder on your own, and fill in their places till they are able to join you again."_ Shikamaru turned his head to the sand kunoichi, and tried to make sense of what she's trying to say, when she chuckled lightly. _"You know, although not as badly as your friends, Kankuro is wounded as well. I had to drag his sorry ass over here, because the idiot rushed into a situation blindly, ending up getting knocked out of a tree by a skilled enemy. I think his leg is kinda broken. And with Gaara going out on his own as usual, I'm stuck alone as well."_ Temari stood up and grabbed the chuunin's arm, pulling him up as well, while setting up a satisfied grin on her face. _"So I guess neither of us have any choice but to work together then."_ Shikamaru sighs, and sticks his hands in his pockets, while forming his usual lazy face again. _"You're really troublesome, you know that?"_

The Konoho and Sand shinobi slowly started to push their enemies of the sound back. In the middle of the square Sakura wondered from body to body, trying to find a life sign. The last shinobi she found alive, died in her arms, and she really would feel better about herself, if she could save at least one. As if it was planned, she heard someone breathing behind a tree. As the pink haired kunoichi carefully checked behind the try, she was shocked to find her former teacher, Iruka including a number of kunai in his body, smiling at her. _"I was wondering what kept you… You used to be much faster with the tests I gave you when you where in my class."_ Sakura couldn't help herself, and smiled at the chuunin's words. It seemed he wasn't to badly wounded, regardless of the kunai sticking in his body. He was just suffering from exhaustion of both his body and his chakra reserves. _"I'm sorry to say Iruka-sensei, but if this is a classroom right now, then I am the teacher. Now hold still while I take care of your wounds."_ Iruka chuckled shortly, and winched in pain as Sakura pull out the first kunai.

Just outside the main gates of the hidden village of the Leaf, tension filled the air as 2 seemingly equally powerful shinobi faced each other. Both Neji and Sasuke where known as geniuses. One from the prestigious Hyuuga clan, the other from the equally noble Uchiha clan. The question which of the clans would be the strongest remained on the minds of anyone who knew about them. Now, the strongest of this generation of the Hyuuga clan, Hyuuga Neji, and the soul survivor of the Uchiha clan and traitor of Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke, are about to answer those questions.

Suddenly, the 2 boys charged at each other, with Neji thrusting towards Sasuke's chest, who doged the Hyuuga's attack effortlessly by moving to the left. As Sasuke move, he spun around, swinging his foot into the direction of his opponent. Neji ducked, and lashed his own foot at the leg of his target, which Sasuke used as support. His Sharingan predicted the counter perfectly, and as his leg swooped over Neji's head, he pulled his other leg up, causing him to spin around. He used this spin to throw his fist down, in an attempt to punch the Konoha genin into the ground. This move however was already foreseen by the Hyuuga, who slammed his foot he used a moment ago to try and knock Sasuke down, and caused himself to spin away from the punch. He too used the force of the spin to thrust the palm of his hand at his opponent. This time, his palm connected violently with the chest of the Uchiha. But to his dismay, the body of Sasuke was replaced with a dead lug in a blink. The Leaf genin landed onto the ground on his feet and in a perfect Jyuken fighting stance. Sasuke had already reappeared 3 meters from Neji, and slid back into his fighting stance as well, and grinned widely. _"You are indeed very strong, and would've probably beaten me a year ago at the chuunin exams. However, in this past year I underwent a lot of changes, and became far more powerful. You won't stand a chance."_ Neji just smiled at Sasuke. _"I guess we'll find out whether it's just talk or not in a few moments."_

Further in the forest that surrounded Konoha, screams of grown men are heard. The spot where the scream originated from was covered in blood. Corpses of a dozen Leaf shinobi where spread throughout the immediate area, with a single man standing in the middle untouched. _"Kukukuku…. If this is the best Konoha has to offer, then this pathetic village will be crushed completely in a matter of hours. Don't you think, Kabuto?"_ Behind the man, Kabuto appeared with a smile on his face. _"Of course Orochimaru-sama. I even collected some nice new samples for my medical experiments."_ The snake-senin turned to medical ninja with an amused smirk on his face. _"Sometimes you really are cruel." _

Suddenly, something different caught Orochimaru's attention, and stared up into a tree, where 2 cloaked figures stood on a branch. _"It's been a while, hasn't it, Uchiha…. Itachi-kun, Kisame-kun."_ The Sharingan met the snake-like eyes of the senin briefly. _"You know why we have come, Orochimaru-sama."_ Another chuckle is heard briefly from the senin, before he suddenly attacked the 2 akatsuki members with the snakes that darted out of his sleeves. The tree easily broke in half and crashed down to the ground. Kisame jumped out of the dust clouds, and performed a number of seales. _"Suiton Bakushoua!"_ Kisame's chest seamed to expend, before he spat out large quantities of water, creating a tsunami that towered highly over the trees, swiping them away effortlessly. Orochimaru and Kabuto leaped up to avoid the water, and landed ontop of the newly formed lake by Kisame's Jutsu. Orochimaru and Kabuto stood back to back, as Kisame landed in front of Kabuto, and Itachi appeared in front of Orochimaru.

Tsunade walked out of one of the medical treatment chambers, and whipped off some drops of sweat from her forehead. She has been at it non-stop trying to save as many of her villagers as she could. Some had died, but this was only a small number. The fifth hokage slowly lowered herself on a sofa in the hallway, when she suddenly felt 3 huge chakra sources outside the large walls of her village. Two of the sources she recognized. The ones of her former teammate Orochimaru, and the other belonged to the S-classed missing ninja from Konoha, Uchiha Itachi. This troubled her greatly. The way things are now, there was little chance for the forces of Konoha could deal with 2 S-classed missing ninja's of the caliber of those two. And there was the third charka force she didn't recognized that was even larger then that of Orochimaru and Itachi. She was somehow relieved that they seamed more interested in each other then in Konoha right now. But still, she still felt uneasy about the fact that she was the only one in Konoha right now that was at the same level as them. She wished her other teammate was at her side right now. Tsunade also knew, that if Orochimaru was at the gates fighting the Leaf and Sand forces right now, things would be more concerning. For that, she was thankful that Itachi and the other shinobi decided to confront him at that moment.

On top of the Hokage monuments, 3 Kunai slam into the rock as Shikamaru landed 2 meters further on the ground. A squadron of Sound shinobi wanted to invade Konoha from the mountains. The captain of the squadron chuckled at the chuunin. _"Kinda stupid, don't ya thing? Patrolling an area on your own, during wartime, is not to smart. But don't worry dude, we'll make it so, ya never have to worry about stuff like that again."_ As the ninja's pulled their kunai, a slight smile appeared on the face of the young Nara. _"When a shinobi invades the territory of their enemies, there are a few rules to fallow to survive, and succeed. One. Know the land you are going to invade, not leaving one slight detail escape. Two. When you encounter an enemy, do not underestimate them. Three. A shinobi on patrol alone during wartime is either very strong, or knew your coming, and set one or more traps. And four. You failed or 3 rules, you things are really troublesome for you guys… Baka."_ Before the sound shinobi could even flinch, they where caught in a powerful whirl wind. Shikamaru disappeared in a puff of smoke just before he to would be blown away by the force of the wind. The unfortunate Sound ninja squad where blown over the edge of the Hokage monument, falling to their doom. Shikamaru reappeared next to Temari in a puff of smoke. The Sand Kunoichi grinned widely at the Leaf Chuunin. _"We make a good team, don't we Crybaby?"_ Shikamaru couldn't help himself, but smile at the sand sibling. Although it was a troublesome thing to admit it, they DO made a good team. He smiled as he looked up, at the clouds, that where slowly drifting over them peacefully. _"Yes… We do indeed."_ Temari, pleased to hear him actually agreeing with her without a fuzz, fallowed his gaze up to the blue skies, and watched the clouds with him. _"This sector is cleared now right? Shouldn't we move to the next?"_ The young Nara muttered a bit. _"Do we have to?"_ The sand Kunoichi smiled again. _"Yep."_ She grabbed his arm, prepairing to drag the lazy shinobi along. _"You're really annoying."_ Before Shikamaru could block his thoughts, he already spoke his mind. He closed his eyes, preparing for the impact of either her fist, or the heave fan of hers with his head, but as he opened his eyes, to see what held her back, he only saw her devious smile. _"You have no idea…"_

"_Katon! Housenka no Jutsu!"_ Neji suddenly saw a rain of fireballs fall down upon him. Sasuke , who jumped out of a tree, saw that Neji had used Kawarimi to avoid the flames of his attack. But his sharingan caught up easily with Neji's movements, and also saw through Neji's next attack. The Hyuuga leaped up from a branch, and hurled the palm of his hand towards the Uchiha, aiming for his chest. Sasuke moved away far enough, and avoided the attack, and countered Neji's attack, spinning around his axes, and slammed his heel into the back of his opponent. At least, that was what he thought, until his sharingan picked up the charka blocking out his attack. Neji grinned, and before the Uchiha could react, he spun around, creating a sphere of charka around, knocking Sasuke away violently. _"Kaiten!"_ Sasuke slammed roughly into the ground, and after sliding a few meters on his back, he flipped over and landed on his feet, back into his battle stance. Blood dripped from under his forehead protector, down the right cheek, barely missing his eye. Neji landed softly onto the ground and slid into his battle stance as well, before suddenly vanishing in a blur and reappear behind the Sharingan user. But as usual, Sasuke fallowed Neji's movements easily, and right before Neji's sudden attack could connect with his back, he dodged it. Neji calculated the moves from the Uchiha, and used his left hand, to fallow Sasuke's movement, in an attempt to have his hand connect with his body. Yet again, Sasuke foresaw the move, and used a Kawarimi which took the full hit. Sasuke reappeared underneath Neji and kicked upwards and his opponent's chest. Again Neji's Kaiten reflected the attack, but since the Uchiha attacked from below, he had nowhere do go but further down. The Raven haired boy slammed into the ground with a great force, but to Neji's surprise he used a Kawarimi again. His Byakugan tracked Sasuke above him high in a tree. The Uchiha was upside down, staring down at the Leaf genin when a grin appeared on his face. _"It's been an interesting fight Neji, but since I have more things to do, I think I'll finish it now."_ Neji raised an eyebrow. _"You should know that my defense is impenetrable by now Sasuke. You have no chance in defeating me."_ Sasuke chuckled amusingly as he activated his cursed seal level one. The black marking started to spread over his entire face, and across his arms. _"It's over Neji, but it seems you will only notice your defeat when it's already done. You will die where you stand!"_ Sasuke performed some seals and stretched his arms down, till it's almost at the branch, and slowly starts to gather chakra in the palm of his hand. The distinct noise of the raw chakra that's sparking uncontrollably fills the air, making it sound like a thousand birds are calling to each other. Neji's eyes widen at the sight, since he never saw a technique like this before, and by the amount of chakra his eyes saw gathering in the palm of his opponent's hand, he knew this was a very dangerous jutsu. He to started to gather chakra and prepared to counter this strange jutsu with a powerful form of his kaiten. Then, Sasuke suddenly swung his left hand back, ripping a huge hole in the trunk of the tree, before concentrating some chakra into his legs, and launched himself from the tree branch in a direct path downwards to Neji. As Sasuke was near enough, and hurled his right hand towards Neji. _"CHIDORI!"_ At that same time, Neji released the chakra he was gathering through his Tenketsu and spun around his axes really fast. _"KAITEN!"_ As Sasuke's Chidori and Neji's Kaiten connect, a bright white flash filled the area, fallowed by a loud explosion.

At that time, at the large gates of Konoha, the Sound shinobi where being pushed back, as Team 8 decided to split up to cover more ground. Kiba took the side of the wall, fighting one opponent after another with his trustworthy companion Akamaru, while Shino forced a few Sound shinobi towards the forest, while Hinata chased 3 shinobi into the forest, where she defeated them rather skillfully. She carefully checked the pockets of the fallen ninja for some new supplies to add to her own, when she suddenly felt a weird sort of pain in her chest. As the pain subsided, she stood up slowly, holding one hand on her chest. She knew for sure she wasn't hit anywhere in the area of her body, and her opponents didn't use any poison-ness weapons either. Thinking it was just her imagination, she refilled her stock with the things she looted from the defeated sound shinobi, when the pain returned again, falling to her knees. After a few seconds, the pain was gone again. Alarmed, she quickly formed a few hand seals. _"Byakugan!"_ As she concentrated on her surroundings, she ruled out the possibility of Genjutsu, or any weird kind of long ranged attacks. She suddenly felt 2 large chakra sources clash with each other. She identified both sources. One was from her cousin Neji, the other from the missing ninja, and former teammate of Naruto and Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke. At that moment her Byakugan vision was blinded by a white flash. Shortly after the flash, that disabled her Byakugan, she heard an explosion in the distance. Again she felt a sharp pain in her chest briefly. Hinata stood back up, and waited a few second to regain her focus. The 2 large chakra sources where gone, leaving one average, and one very weak source. Then Hinata understood the bad omens, as she felt the weakening chakra source belonged to her cousin. _"N-Neji-n-nisan…"_ She reactivated her Byakugan and jumped into the trees again as fast as she could, traveling in the direction Neji was fighting Sasuke.

Further away inside the forest near the borders of Konoha's territory, Kabuto has engaged Kisame in combat, while Orochimaru struggled with Itachi. Kabuto was beat up pretty badly, and breathed heavily, while Kisame simple grinned. Kabuto continued on healing his major wounds every time he took a massive hit from the much stronger Kisame, who aktualy enjoyed playing with his opponent, and simply lets him heal himself. Orochimaru and Itachi both had some injuries, but that didn't stop them from pull one powerful attack after another at each other.Itachi jumped back from a fire jutsu the snake senin used against him, and landed next to Kisame. _"Stop playing with your target. Finnish him quickly, and help me fight Orochimaru-sama. This is taking way to long."_ Kisame muttered slightly, but agreed, knowing full well not to cross Itachi. While Kabuto was healing himself slowly, Kisame landed in front of him. _"I'm sorry boy. Playtime is over."_ Not giving Kabuto time to fall into his defensive position, and swung his large sword at him. Kabuto leaped back, barely dodging the attack, when suddenly a water bunshin erupted out of the water, slicing his blade upwards, shaving deeply int Kabuto's back. As he landed on the water, he tried to heal himself again, but found he lost most of his left-over chakra. The water bunshin of Kisame was cancelled once the real Kisame stood in front of the weakened Kabuto. The poor was simply outmatched in every way possible. None of his attacks connected, while every attack Kisame performed on him, connected fully. He slowly reached into his pocket, to grab a soldier pill, but was stopped as Kisame kicked him in the face with an incredible force, sending Kabuto flying over the water, and finally slamming into the ground. Kabuto didn't even feel the force of the impact, since the moment Kisame's foot hit his face, he was knocked out. Orochimaru saw the defeat of his right-hand-man, and chuckled lightly. _"My my… I really should have him pay more attention to his combat abilities, instead of his medical skills, don't you agree Itachi-kun?"_ The snake senin was also fallowing Sasuke's battle by sensing his chakra, chuckling softly to himself. _"It seems your little brother is enjoying himself as well it seems, Itachi-kun."_ Kisame landed next to his partner, facing Orochimaru.

At the Konoha hospital, Sakura had placed Iruka on a stretcher in one of the many hallways of the hospital. Iruka smiled at his former student. _"You have grown so much Sakura. I cant help myself feeling proud, seeing how far you have gone so far."_ Sakura smiled slightly as she stands up. _"I have you, Kakashi-sensei, and Tsunade-sama to thank for that. I'd love to stay, but I really have to g…"_ Suddenly Sakura stood still, and stared at the wall, with large eyes. _"Sasuke…-kun…"_ Iruka suddenly sits up and quickly turned to the wall Sakura stared at, seeing no-one. _"What? What are you…?"_ As he turned his face back to where Sakura was, he noticed she was gone.

Asuma and Kurenai walked passed Iruka, noticing his shocked face. _"What's wrong Iruka?"_ Iruka turned to the two Jounin, with a worried look on his face. _"Did you just see Sakura by any chance?"_ The two Jounin shook their head negatively at the Academy teacher. _"Ch… She must've felt that charkra surge a moment ago, and recognized it belonged to Sasuke, and went after him!"_ Kurenai gave Asuma a look, and he simply sighed before nodding. _"No choice I guess. Well go after her, and hope we are in time to prevent her from doing anything rash."_ With that the two Jounin vanished in a blur.

As the dust settled, Sasuke's eyes where already fixed on the new arrival in the trees. He greeted her with an evil smirk, as he saw her horrified eyes. Hinata was shocked at what she saw. Sasuke's lower arm was sticking in Neji's upper chest, while his hand stuck out of her cousin's lower back. Neji screamed in pain as Sasuke pulled his arm out of the Hyuuga's body, and watched him collapse, as blood oozed out of his body. Sasuke fixed his sight at the other Hyuuga with a grin on his face. _"I hope you'll entertain me more then he did… Hinata"_ Hinata held her hands in front of her mouth, horrified of the condition Sasuke rendered her cousin, Neji in. _"N-Neji n-ni-san…"_ neji slowly turned to his side, and coughed up some blood. _"Hinata-sama… Run… Y-You can't d-defeat him… He's t-to strong…"_ Neji coughed up some more blood while Sasuke walked up to the fallen Hyuuga, thrusting his foot into his side, while keeping his sight fixed on the horrified Hinata, as he twisted his foot into the bleeding hole of her cousin. Neji winched in pain, already to weak to scream anymore. Hinata took a step back and supported her body against the trunk of the tree she was in, nearly fainting of the gruesome sight on the ground. She really wanted to run away, but she couldn't leave Neji to die like that.

Then, she heard Naruto's voice echoing in the back of her head, yelling at her. The memory of him encouraging her at the chuunin exams when she was about to fight Neji in the preliminary rounds forced itself back in her mind. _"Hinata! Beat his ass up Hinata! You can do it!"_ Then the memory of the time he accidentally walked in on her right before the main matches for the chuunin exams at the training grounds. She remembered her talking to him about what she admired about him. She remembered why she liked him so much, and how much she wished she would be like him. Then she came back to reality and looked down at the still grinning Sasuke, and him tormenting her fallen cousin. She knew she had no choice, other then to fight. She had to fight Uchiha Sasuke, and defeat him if she was to safe Neji. It was the only way. She had to risk her own life in order to save him. _"I'm sorry Neji-ni-san, but I cant run."_ With that she formed a few hand seals. _"Byakugan!" _

Sasuke was pleased that the girl, his former classmate, decided not to run. His Sharingan had found a new opponent. He was wondering how much resistance the younger Hyuuga offered. Much time he had to think he didn't get, as Hinata suddenly jumped out of the tree and launched her assault at him. Sasuke dodged her attacks simply. After a few seconds dodging, the young Uchiha countered, but found that the girl dodged his attacks just as easily. He decided to try the same methods he used against the older Hyuuga before, and had one of the attacks of Hinata connect, while using Kawarimi, replacing himself with a dead piece of wood, just before the attack connected with his body. He reappeared behind her, and kicked upwards from the ground, trying to use his Shishi-Rendan against her. However, Hinata dodged the kick, while hurling the palm of her hand downwards. Again the sound ninja saw through the counter attack, and pushed himself up, avoiding it. He land back into his battle stance, while Hinata flicked back into her battle stance as well.

The landscape where the battle raged between the Akatsuki members and Orochomaru changed the landscape within a radius of 500 miles drastically. Most of the trees that once stood there where destroyed, and the ground was mostly scorched. Kisame punched Orochimaru into a smoldering tree trunk, but it appeared to be a clone, as it dissipates into a brown substance, when large snakes erupted from below Kisame, entangling him, while out of one of the snake's mouths a sword appears, and stabbed straight through the missing ninja's chest. Kisame's body turned into water, and the snakes are all pierced by the kunai of Itachi, who in his turn gets punched by Orochimaru who appeared out of a bolder. He formed a few seals at an impressive rate, and spits out a large fireball at the flying Itachi, but the Sharingan user reappeared behind the snake senin, who didn't even seem to perform any seals, spit out an even bigger fireball from his mouth. _"Katon! Goukayuu no Jutsu!" _The burning form of Orochimaru appeared to be another bunshin, as Orochimaru reappeared a bit further away. He sensed that more people where moving towards Sasuke's location quickly, sensing his new apprentice to be in danger when they arrive. Before Itachi and Kisame could launch another attack he called out to Kabuto, who finally regained consciousness. _"It seems we have spent to much time here, and caused Sasuke-kun more trouble then he could possibly handle. Lets retreat."_ The medical ninja nodded and vanished in a puff of smoke. Orochimaru turned his attention to the Akatsuki members and chuckled lightly. _"It seems you at least assisted Konoha in its survival for the time being. It's been a pleasure meeting you both again, Itachi-kun, Kisame-kun. Farewell."_ With that Orochimaru sank into the ground and vanishes.

Kisame turned to his partner with a frown. _"Does this we failed our mission?"_ Itachi deactivated his Sharingan before answering Kisame. _"No. Our main priority was to make sure Konoha survives. We did just that. Disposing of Orochimaru-sama will become a priority eventually. Lets go back."_ Kisame nodded, and sank into a puddle of water, while Itachi faded away in a dark shadow, before dissipating.

Hinata hurled 3 kunai at Sasuke, who simply dodged them, hurling some shuriken at her, who all seemed to miss at first, till Hinata was caught up and the wiring that was attached to the shuriken, and pulled her towards a tree. When she finally seemed to be tied to the tree, Sasuke noticed he caught a dead lug, as Hinata suddenly appeared behind him in a stance that he didn't recognized. _"Hakkeshou! Rokuyuu Yonshou!"_ Gracefully Hinata moved around Sasuke, performing the 64 tenketsu hit combo, but at the end of the combo didn't go as she thought it should go. Sasuke's fist connected violently with her face, and sent her flying. After Hinata slowly moved back to her feet, and whipped some of her blood from her face, she turned back to Sasuke, who stood there, looking rather disappointed. _"Ch… You're even weaker then Neji. Not entertaining at all… Guess I'll have to end this one before I get bored as well."_ Sasuke formed a few seals quickly, and moved his hands down, collecting a large amount of chakra in his left hand again.

Neji watched in horror as the Uchiha brat was preparing for the jutsu he used to bring him to the point he is now, on the ground with a gaping hole in his body, while slowly bleeding to death. He already was on the edge of consciousness, but before he gave in, he wanted to try and convince the younger Hyuuga to escape. With all the strength that was left in his body, he tried to yell at Hinata, but managed only to get a soft whisper out. _"Hinata… Run… He's to strong… Save..yourself…"_ Sasuke chuckled at the pleading words of the defeated Hyuuga genius. It was to late for his former classmate to escape now. Hinata however wasn't planning to attempt to escape. She was determent to defeat Sasuke, even if it would cost her her life. The words she learned to understand during her match with Neji at the preliminary rounds of the Chuunin exams, echoed in her head. _"I will not run away… For it is my ninja way…"_ She whispered back at her cousin. Sasuke chuckled deviously to himself. _"Well, if that's all, I guess it's time for me to conclude this sorry excuse of a challenge."_ With that he swung his left arm sideways, holding the concentrated amount of chakra in his hand, and launched forwards, speeding towards Hinata. When he was in striking range, he hurled the palm of his hand towards the middle of Hinata's chest. The sounds of a powerful collision echoed through the forest.

Sakura was getting closer to the battleground, and felt her anger rise when the images of Chouji and her best friend Ino critically wounded, and left for dead. She clanged her fists and increased her speed as she felt the shockwave, of what seamed to be a massive release of chakra. The chakra she sensed belonged to no other then the one who triggered her anger in the first place. Uchiha Sasuke.

Loud cheers where heard when the last giant snake was finally ripped apart by Gaara's sand. The Kazekage crossed his arms, and sighed annoyed. _"Persistent creature."_ Gaara turned around, and prepared to walk back to Konoha, when his attention was drawn away from his path. He let out a soft mutter before he dissipated in a cloud of sand.

The left arm of the Uchiha was covered in blood, which was not his own. Hinata coughed up more blood, vomiting it all over Sasuke's arm. Sasuke chuckled lightly at the obviously badly wounded Hinata. _"Easy victory… Hardly worth my time. You always where the weakest in our class. To think you had the guts to challenge me after I defeated the other Hyuuga just as easily. You never had any shred of hope to defeat me. You lose, along with Konoha."_ But to Sasuke's surprise Hinata slowly started to smile. Again she coughed up some blood, before she started to speak. _"Y-You are wrong… S-Sasuke-san.K-Konoha wil not fall. Not today. Not by you. Y-You might've defeated me, perhaps even killed me, b-but you won't be able to cause anymore destruction for today."_ Hinata lowered her pale eyes at his blood covered left arm, which was, to Sasuke's surprise only about 2 inches in his target's chest. Hinata still held her index-finger and her middle-finger against his wrist, and he could clearly see the tenketsu in his left lower arm burned out. Hinata had canceled his chidori by disabling his chakra flow through his left arm, when he was close enough. To his horror it would seem that this wasn't the only bit of damage he had taken from the Hyuuga. He felt a sharp pain in his chest, as his heart skipped a beat. Hinata smiled again as some blood dripped down from her lips as she tries desperately to stay on both her feet, while Sasuke slowly staggers back, holding his chest in pain.

While Sasuke hurled the palm of his hand towards the center of the kunoichi's chest, in an attempt to pierce straight through her internal organs. It would've killed her instantly if he had succeeded, but he didn't. While the palm of his hand was only a few inches away from her chest, she touched his wrist with 2 fingers, cutting off the chakra flow, canceling his jutsu as it just penetrated her chest. Doing this with her right arm, she launched her left arm into his chest, using the Jyuken technique to disrupt the chakra flow in and around his heart and longs. By disrupting the chakra flow in these organs affected his entire body, making it impossible to use chakra for a long while from that moment. Hinata looked at Sasuke again with a painful smile. _"O-One of the first things we where taught at the academy was never to underestimate our opponents. A-And now you know why…"_ Hinata coughed again, before falling backwards onto the ground, breathing heavily.

Sasuke had a hard time breathing as well, when finally Sakura arrived at the battleground, seeing both Neji and Hinata had fallen, and a weakened Sasuke. She clutched her fists again, trying to control her rising anger. _"Sasuke…"_ The Uchiha slowly tried to stand straight, while putting up a taunting smirk. _"What?"_ That was the last thing he said, before his chin met with a powerful uppercut from his former teammate, having him float 10 inches from the ground, before his face met with a devastating right hand punch from the pink haired kunoichi, sending him flying into the trunk of a large and strong tree. The force of the collision had him break most of his rear ribs, while his jaw was dislocated and broken by the first punch, and his left eye case was broken in multiple places by the second punch. Sasuke lost consciousness the moment the second punch from Sakura connected with his face.

At that moment, Orochimaru and Kabuto arrived. Sakura, still blinded by rage, charged at Orochimaru, but was stopped in her tracks by Asuma and Kurenai, as Gaara appears on the scene as well. Orochimaru chuckled evilly as he watched Kabuto pickup Sasuke. _"It seams Sasuke-kun has reached his limit. We where just in time to make sure my little investment isn't damaged too much. Kukukuku."_ He gave Kabuto a nod, and the medical ninja vanished with Sasuke in a puff of smoke. Orochimaro smiled at Sakura, Kurenai, Asuma, and Gaara. _"Tell the fifth I have enjoyed her hospitality, and that we will meet again soon."_ With another devious chuckle, the snake-sanin sank into the ground, and disappeared.

As soon as Sakura regained her sanity, she rushed over to Neji and Hinata, checking on them both. She then turned to the 2 jounin and the sand Kazekage. _"We need to take them to the hospital ASAP! They both lost a lot of blood!"_ Gaara used his sand to make floating stretchers, holding both severely wounded Hyuuga's and rushed back to Konoha, with the 3 Leaf shinobi escorting him.

Once at the hospital, Kurenai held Hinata's hand as long as she was allowed to. The young girl regained consciousness for a brief moment, and looked at her team's Jounin. _"H-How did I do K-Kurenai-sensei? W-Was it enough to save Neji-nisan ?"_ Kurenai gave Hinata a reassuring nod. _"Yes Hinata, you did."_ With that the young Hyuuga slipped back into unconsciousness wearing a satisfied smile on her face.

* * *

This chapter supposed to be longer, but the battle between Orochimaru and Kabuto VS Itachi and Kisame, no matter how good and destructive it was, seamed anticlimactic, and unimportant compared with the battle between Sasuke VS Neji, and Sasuke VS Hinata. 

That part was dragging the chapter to much, so I felt I needed to cut it for the good of this chapter. For those who where actually waiting for that particular battle (None of my reviewers mentioned it though) I'm sorry for this.

Update 10-12-2007:  
I've had some problems wrighting the next chapter do to changes along the first few and cant seem to get around the problem. Instead of brainstorming and try to get over this block i decided to change the story line starting next chapter. The first 1.5 pages are unchanged. The rest however have been deleted and started over compleetly. And to be compleetly honest, i like where this story is going. It seems i can wright it in exactly the same timespan as the manga/anime, filling the 2.5 year gap betwean Naruto and Naruto Shippuudden.  
The wrighting of this chapter is progressing rappidly and i have once again fun writing it.

Teaser:  
Hinata is in the Hospital when she wakes up. Her window is blocked by a few flowers. One of them was standing on a letter. Who could have written it ?

Sakura struggles with her emotions, and finds comfort in the one person she least expected it.

Stay tuned for the next chapter of :

* * *

**Naruto – Hinata Gaiden**

**

* * *

_I'll update ASAP. _**

_Thank you for reading this chapter, and i hope you liked it.  
Please review._

_Thanks._


	7. The Road to the Chuunin Exams part 1

_This is my first Naruto Fan Fiction.  
Note that this story is based on a still ongoing Show / Manga in Japan._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!_

_**Please Read and Review.  
Thanks, and enjoy!**_

_I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter. _

_**Naruto - H**__**inata Gaiden.**_

* * *

__

Chapter _**7 – The Road to the Chuunin Exams – Part 1**_

The sealing was bright white. The same was with the wall at the other side of the room. A gentle breeze came from the open window, filling the room with fresh air. At first this room seemed very unfamiliar to her, but after a few moments she remembered the gruesome fight she had with Uchiha Sasuke. She had no idea how long it has been since that moment, but by the feeling of her chest, she figured it must've been at least a few days. As she turned her head towards the window, she could see the different types of flowers in there. It wasn't hard for her to figure out where they came from originally, since she loved watching for flowers all around Konoha. 2 flowers where from the Hyuuga garden, the blue flowers only grew there. A white flower was from Sakura. She always gave everyone of her friends a white flower if they where hospitalized. The lighter blue flower came from Kurenai. According to her, the flower matched the color of her eyes. The chewed red flower came from Shino and Kiba. Akamaru always found a way to grab hold of the flowers, and chew on them. She thought of it as a present of him too. But out of all the flowers in the window, there was one she couldn't place: A yellow flower with a purple core and dark green leaves. Hinata slowly sat up and looked at the flower again, and saw there was a envelope underneath the vase.

The way out of her bed, towards the window, and back into her bed where surprisingly difficult for Hinata, but her mission was a success. The envelope was within her hands, and opened it slowly, pulling out a letter. She smiled as she already recognized the sloppy hand wrighting.

_Yo! Hinata!_

_I heard what happened. About The Sound and Rain attacking Konoha, and your encounter with that Sasuke-bastard. Of all the people, I never would've guessed it was you who actually did what I could not a year ago. You defeated him! I mean…WOW! You must be even stronger then me now! You rock-dattebayo!_

_Since you where sleeping so quietly and all, I thought I just write you this letter and be on my way again, and make sure that old Ero-sennin trains me better, or I'd find my butt being kicked by you when I get back and be all depressed I did all that training for nothing._

_Anyway, you get well soon, and I'll see you again in 2 years._

_Bye._

_Somebody unknown._

Hinata smiled and grabbed a pen from the table next to her bed. She placed a thick cross through "Somebody unknown" and written "Naruto-kun" underneath it, folded it and slid it back into the envelope. She hugged it for a short moment and sighs, before putting it underneath her pillow, and rested her head on it. Not much later she fell asleep again.

The next morning, as she slowly opened her eyes, she noticed Sakura attending to the flowers in the window. The pink haired kunoichi noticed that Hinata had awoken, and gave her a friendly smile. "Good morning, I hope you had a good rest Hinata." Hinata returned a smile, and sat up slowly. "Yes, thank you Sakura-san. May I ask you how long I've been asleep?" Sakura smiled once again and sat down in a chair next to the bed. "It's been 5 days since we encountered the Sound." Hinata fiddled her fingers and stared at the blank wall in front of her. "W-what about Neji-nisan Ino-san and Chouji-san?" Sakura sighs a bit, obviously worried about them as well, but managed to putt up a faint smile. "Their wounds are healed, but it took a lot out of them. Chouji is already awake, but Ino and Neji are still unconscious." Hinata fiddled a bit with her fingers while staring down at them. "C-can I visit them?" Sakura smiled at her. Hinata was truly a kind girl. Always looking more towards the needs of others then to herself. She gave her a nod. "Sure. But for the time being, don't leave your bed without someone by your side. Other then that, you can visit them." Hinata smiled relieved. "I would like to see them now Sakura-san, if that's okay."

When ever Hinata felt even a little rested, she left her room, with or without someone to escort her, and went to the room of her recuperating friends. She kept them up to date with their progress, as well as that of konoha and herself.  
Chouji was the first to open his eyes. Next to Hinata, he was the least badly wounded, for Ino saved him from a fatal hit from Sasuke. It wasn't long for him to remember what had happened. Hinata was worried he'd start to complain about being hungry, being Chouji after all, but instead he surprised her with an other set of words. "Where is Ino? Is she alright?" Hinata gave him a comforting smile that answered his question, and added needlessly; "She's going to be alright. As will you."  
A tear rolled down Chouji's cheek and gave the young pale-eyed kunoichi a painful look. "What's wrong Chouji-san? Where are you hurt?" The big genin shook his head and sniffed. "I'm realy hungry Hinata…. Could you get me something to eat? Pleeeaaaseee….." That's when the exhausted young girl fell from her chair.

A few days later both Ino and Neji awakened from their long and restless sleep. Ino, being surprised to find herself still being able to draw breath was obviously relieved. Chouji visited her for hours every day, sometimes accompanied by Shikamaru and talked mostly about how well the repairs went in the hidden village. Shikamaru mostly talked about how beautifully peaceful the clouds where these last few weeks.

Meanwhile, on top of the mountain where the hokage faces are cut into, Sakura sat on her knees leaning against a tree. Tears fell down like rain, and she gave up trying to stop them a while ago. The memories of Sasuke's role in the battle for Konoha, not to long ago where still very fresh, and where cutting at her with razor sharp kunai from within her. Her pain was indescribable. She clutched the fist she used to knock Sasuke away from Hinato tightly. Her gloves where already soaked by her tears, but she couldn't care less. Every day she came here to cry her heart out. Tormenting was the right word to describe her situation best Tsunade told her mother. Sakura was hardly ever at home since the battle, and if she was, she was sleeping inside her room. But mostly she was found by Tsunade or Shizune against this very same tree, after she cried herself to sleep.  
When Sakura was at work inside the hospital, or running errands for Tsunade, she was as energetic and cheerful as usual. But those who knew her best could easily look through the thin wall she had set up for the outside world. She had been ignoring the subject that was tormenting her. Those who tried to talk to her about it found out how easily and swiftly she changed the subject.  
Tsunade noticed Sakura's ability to control herself was slipping faster, and it would be a matter of time she'd crash completely. However, every attempt she made to confront her about it was either brushed aside skillfully, or shot down with her commonly known temper.  
As usual when she's up there, Sakura felt her body slowly go limp. Knowing it's useless to resist she simply closed her eyes, and awaited the undeniable fact sleep was coming for her. With the remaining bits of energy she unconsciously started mumbling to no one in particular. "Why? Why……… Sasuke?"  
The next morning Sakura found herself once again within the Hokage-mention. The room she was in, started to feel like home. The last time she actually slept at home voluntarily was at least 2 weeks ago. Everything in this room was like she remembered it, simply decorated, but very useful. The flowers on the balcony where showing their wonders to the world, just like 2 days ago when she planted them their in a pot she took from home. She stared at the flower with saddened eyes. "It will be a while before those wither and die. But you however look like you already withered away… Sakura-chan." Sakura's eyes grew larger then usually as she heard that comment. She instantly recognized that cheerful voice and that rather mocking tone when ever she said "Sakura-chan". She turned around instantly and stared into the blue eyes of her rival and above all else, her best friend, Yamanaka Ino. "Ino! What are you doing here? You should be in the hospital for at least another week!" Ino still looked rather pale, and carried her body weakly still while breathing still was rather painful for the blond kunoichi. Ino kneeled in front of Sakura and suddenly placed the palm of her hand onto Sakura's cheek, wiping away a single tear. "You've been crying all night huh, Sakura?" The blond girl aimed her words carefully, and was blocked by a powerful wall Sakura set up nearly instantly. Sakura rubbed her eye a bit, as if trying to get rid of something that was trapped in there. "N-No. Why would you say something stupid like that? This room has a lot of dust. I guess some of it must've slipped into my eyes while I was sleeping."  
Though it was a very convincing act Sakura put up, it didn't fool Ino. "Don't lie Sakura. You forget I can see right through you when you try to lie to me. You cried yourself to sleep like you have done nearly every single night, haven't you Sakura? Ever since the sound invaded Konoha. Ever since Sasuke attacked us."  
Sakura was shocked hearing this from her friend. She struck right in the middle of the bull's eye, and tears started falling from her eyes once again. Ino wrapped her arms around Sakura, holding her tight enough so the already weakened Kunoichi couldn't escape her affection, and lose enough not to cause herself more pain then needed to be. Sakura responded the only way she could right then, and cried loudly as she buried her head into her friend's neck.  
Outside the room, leaning against the wall next to the door, was Tsunade. She smiled lightly as she turned her face towards the door. "There are things you can't overcome on your own, or heal with any Jutsu. Sometimes a friend can help in ways other means can not. Remember that Sakura, and you'll get where ever you need to go."  
With that the Fifth Hokage turned around and left the hallway, heading back to her own chamber, to tons of paperwork.

Two months later, on the grounds of the Hyuuga mansion garden, Hinata and Neji where sparing. Being out of the hospital for only 2 weeks, Neji was at a severe disadvantage and was clearly losing to his younger niece. On the patio with his youngest daughter Hanabi, Hiashi watched the match between his daughter and his nephew. "Hinata-oneesan ha become stronger hasn't she father?" Hiashi turned his attention to his youngest child and gave her one of his rare smiles. "Yes she has Hanabi. If you train as hard as she did the last few months, you'll be getting much stronger as well.  
A messenger walks towards Hiashi and whispered something into his ear. Little Hanabi looked up curiously, wanting to know what was going on. Her father looked down at her and gave her a slight notion of a smile. "We have a couple of visitors Hanabi. Would you care to welcome them, and escort them over here?" Hanabi nodded at her father, and walked away formally after the messenger was away. By the looks on her father's face, she could tell the visitors are ones that where on his good side, and weren't one of those stuck-up men who where only after their families fortune. So the youngest of the Hyuuga line of heirs was in good spirits when suddenly, out of the blue, something big and hairy jumped on top of her. She squealed a bit, but those formed into giggles very rapidly after she finally recognized Akamaru. "Akamaru! Hihihi! Stop that!" she said when the rather large dog was affectionately licking her face. Not much farther from the site of the ambush, Kiba watched with a big smile on his face. Akakamru was always very happy when they visited the Hyuuga mansion, where he could play with the young Hanabi.  
Behind Kiba, Shino and Kurenai where also looking at the young girl enjoying the attention Kiba's most trusted friend was giving her. Even Shino seemed to enjoy this spectacle, although it rarely showed on his face. Kiba, Shino and Kurenai bowed respectfully as Hiashi showed himself. Ignoring the fact that his daughter was just overpowered by a dog, he returned the team's gesture with a slight nod. "Although she has improved much over the last couple of months, with the help of Neji and Hinata, Hanabi is still very easily distracted."

Soon the five people and the dog where at the garden where they watched the rather impressive sparring match between Hyuuga Neji and his niece, Hyuuga Hinata. Hinata, who knew she couldn't lower her defenses even for a short time to great her teammates, concentrated fully on her match with Neji. Neji on the other hand was simply buying time before he was forced to admit defeat again. This week his pride had to endure much, as he lost match after match from his niece. But he felt his strength returning day by day as Hinata found it harder and harder to win against him. With one final attack from the palm of her hand she forced him to retreat again, and found himself with his heels nearly touching the water of the small pond. He knew he had to move away before he would fall into it. He noticed that Hinata was to focused on winning, she didn't notice his awkward situation, when she suddenly confronted him with a 3 move combo, knocking Neji into the pond.  
Kurenai looked proudly at Hinata while Kiba couldn't hold his laughter. "Looks like you're washed up!" Neji gave the younger Genin a glare. "At least she's brave enough to even challenge me."  
This angered Kiba a lot. Did he just called him a coward. But before he could throw a comment at him in his usual style, Kurenai stopped him. "Enough. Hinata. Would you come with me please? There are some things we need to discus."  
Hinata gave Neji a respectful bow, excusing herself and fallowed Kurenai towards the mansion's tea room with the rest of her team.

Hanabi, accompanied by Akamaru, walked into the tearoom and offered the 4 ninja a cup of tea. Kurenai smiled at the young Hyuuga and nodded a "thank you", before giving her subordinates her full attention. "Now that we are complete I have a subject to discuss. The next Chuunin Exams are being held soon in the village of the hidden Sand, and I have recommended you to the Hokage to join these events." She carefully blew some air over her hot tea before taking a careful sip. The expression that appeared on her face was that of delight, but turned back to serious when she continued. "The exams will be held in 1 month, and I expect you all to be ready." She turned her attention to Hinata, knowing Kiba and Shino where training nearly non-stop since the attack of the Sound, and where more then ready. Hinata however was still not at full strength and she suspected she needed more time to recover fully from the wounds inflicted by Sasuke, but she also knew she wanted to prove her strength towards the others. With the exams coming up, this would've been the best opportunity to do just that. Hinata returned her sensei's stare with one of determination from her own, giving Kurenai the answer she anticipated from the young girl. The Jounin focused back on the reason she had organized this meeting. "The recently chosen Kazekage has requested Konoha to send some people to help with the organization of the exams and the festivities around it. Since Hinata is still not at full strength, and you two are more then ready, I decided to volunteer our team to help out. The fifth also appointed Shikamaru to help out with the setup of the exams. I think its safer with the hostilities still within our borders to travel in a larger group." Kurenai stood up and looked at each of the genins for a short while, seeing nothing but determination in them. "So if there are no further questions, start packing. We'll be leaving first thing tomorrow morning."

* * *

Finally! A new chapter arrives! It's only a short one, since I started another path. The first contingency was giving me a lot of problems, and I tried writing it correctly a few times. Finally I was thinking about what was more in the line of the plot the Naruto series (both Manga and Anime) where fallowing, and decided to do a totally new plot, and rewrite the story completely from this chapter on.

Preview next chapter:  
The Chuunin exams are only a month away, and the teams are preparing to show their worth in the care of the host, the hidden Sand village.  
Sakura faces a dilemma for her original teammates, Naruto and Sasuke, where gone and effectively eliminates her chances to become a Chuunin. Or is there a way for her to attend the exams anyway?  
Interesting times arrive for our young ninja's as their next chance to become Chuunins is getting closer.

Stay tuned for the next chapter of :

**Naruto – Hinata Gaiden**

**

* * *

** _I'll update ASAP. _

_Thank you for reading this chapter, and i hope you liked it.  
Please review._

_Thanks._


	8. The Road to the Chuunin Exams part 2

First of all, i thank you all for your patience.  
I have written myself into a corner that i couldn't crawl out of.  
However, my trouble has been rewarded. This chapter is finally finished!  
Now i should be on track for my other chapter, so stay tuned!

_This is my first Naruto Fan Fiction.  
Note that this story is based on a still ongoing Show / Manga in Japan._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!_

_**Please Read and Review.  
Thanks, and enjoy!**_

**Naruto - Hinata Gaiden**  
**Chapter 8 - The road to the Chuunin Exams - Part 2**

* * *

Hinata and Sakura met at the ramenshop early in the evening to share a cup of ramen.  
"Why haven't you told him how you feel for him?"  
Huuga Hinata looked away from Sakura's stare nervously before she responded.  
"I-I don't know what you are referring to."  
Sakura chuckled as she drank some of the hot soup that was left in her cup.  
"I was revering to Naruto of course."  
The young kunoichi with the pale eyes blushed and fell silent for a moment.  
There was really no point in fooling Sakura or trying to change the subject. Her friend was to sharp unfortunately.

Outside the ramenshop Shizune noticed the young girls chatting.  
Whatever it was about had to wait, as she was sent bij Tsunade to tell Sakura that she wanted to see her.  
So she walked up to the girls.  
"I'm sorry to interrupt you two, but the hokage requested you to go see her right away Sakura."  
Sakura looked at Sizunne and nodded, before returning her attention to her friend. "It seems Tsunade-sama needs me, so i don't seem to be able to get an answer to my question today. So let's finish our ramen, and continue our conversation at a later time."  
Hinata swallowed hard before responding to her friend.  
"We really d-don't need to c-continue this i-if you don't want to Sakura-san. We c-can also talk about something e-else."  
Sakura chuckled lightly at Hinata's attempt to change the subject. Obviously the young Huuga failed.  
"What would be more interesting than this? What Naruto likes for his birthday? Or perhaps what kinda date he would like to take a girl onto?"  
Her words had gotten the response from the shy Hinata Sakura had hoped to get from her friend.  
The girl's face turned deep red, while her eyes dropped to stare at her ramen.

After they finished their meals, and paid the kind shopkeeper, Sakura and Hinata said their goodbyes, and both went their separate ways.  
Sakura joined Shizune's side, and headed for the hokage-mansion, while Hinata went home, to the Huuga mansion, to train with Neji or her father.  
Tsunade was focusing on some documents that where spread over her desk as Sizune and Sakura entered her office.  
While reading one of the documents, she reached in front of her, further on her desk and grabbed an envelope.  
"Shizune, deliver these to Nara Shikamaru ASAP."  
The young jounin accepted the envelope filled with documents, and left the office of the 5th hokage as quickly as she came in.  
Tsunade moved the documents she was reading onto her desk and focused on the remaining pupil.  
"Sakura, as you know, the chuunin exams are forth-coming. But without a team, you can't compete.  
It so happens that a team of genin that also is qualified to compete is missing a third member. So i was hoping that you would like to join them for this exam."  
Sakura held back a scream of joy Tsunade knew she felt.  
The old Sakura would've jumped for joy and choked the life out of her sensei in a powerful hug.  
But the young kunoichi, who stood before her, had grown much since she had become the student of Konoha's finest medical shinobi, and nodded thankfully.  
She did however brushed away a tear of joy. But then, nobody was perfect.  
Tsunade stared at her youngest pupil with pride.  
The 5th hokage's expression changed to a more serious look.  
"Hanura Sakura, your next mission is to be a chuunin the next time you walk into this office!"

She was her rival and her best friend at the same time, but now they will be teammates as well.  
Things will be difficult, but in order to get at least as far as the last chuunin exams, she knew they both needed to rise above their rivalry's.  
And so they will.  
Chouji watched Ino walk next to him, lost in thought for the moment.  
"Are you alright Ino?"  
That snapped her out of her trance, and she formed a genuine smile on her beautiful face.  
"Of course. Why shouldn't i be? We are able to enter the chuunin exams again. And with Sakura in our team we have 2 most powerful, cutest, and smartest kunoichi's from the Hidden Leaf in 1 team."  
Chouji looked a bit sad for not being mentioned at all by his female team member.  
Ino noticed, and smiled again.  
And with your special food pills, none of us have to worry about getting hungry.  
Chouji still doesn't seem to cheer up, and Ino couldn't stand it.  
"Oh common Chouji. You know you're the strongest in our team. Me and Sakura wouldn't get very far without you."  
This made her kindhearted friend smile warmly.  
Mission accomplished, Ino thought, when Chouji suddenly responded.  
"I'm way cuter then either of you anyway."  
Both genin couldn't help themselves and laughed loudly, right before they opened the doors to the office of the 5th Hokage.

Once again in the garden of her family, Hinata was sparring.  
Not with her father, not with Neji, not even with her little sister Hanabi.  
Aburame Shino, a powerful genin from the esteemed clan of bug users, the Aburame-clan,was usually more than her match before they competed at their first Chuunin exams.  
Now, to Shino's surprise, he was having trouble keeping the small girl at bay.  
Suddenly she struck straight through his defenses, and in a blink of an eye, his bug-clone was dispersed.  
The real Shino was sitting on the ground, panting heavily, a good 6 meters away from the action.  
"You have improved some of your techniques quite a lot Hinata. I would've enjoyed seeing more of them, but it seems that my last training with my father drained my chakra reserves. So I'm afraid that I'll have to step out and take some rest to recover some of my energy."  
Hinata lowered her guard and walked over to her beaten friend and offered him her hand, pulling him to his feet.  
"I understand. You've been working very hard today. Let's go inside, and I'll make you some tea."  
When Shino was on his feet, he and Hinata walked into the large Huuga mansion.  
Inside Kiba was waiting on the couch with their team's jounin Kurenai.  
Kurenai stood up and smiled at her students.  
"Shino, get some rest, and go home to pack your bags. We'll be heading out for the Hidden Sand village tonight.  
Same goes for you Hinata. But be sure to see your father before you leave. He wanted to talk to you."  
"Of course sensei. When shell we assemble at the gates?" Hinata replied.  
"In 3 hours. So you both have more than enough time.  
Me and Kiba will be waiting for both of you there."  
With that said Kurenai and Kiba walked out of the door, with Kiba's faithful companion Akamaru right behind them.

It didn't take Hinata long to pack her bag, and was almost ready finishing cleaning her room, when her little sister walked in.  
"Hinata-neesan, may i ask you a question?"  
Hanabi was growing up into a beautiful and strong representative of the Huuga family.  
Hinata started to like her little sister a little more now she to treated her older sister with a little more respect.  
Hinata knew it started out as being a forced subject for her little sister, as she was told by their father ever since her fight against Neji, and the many successful missions she's been part of since then.  
"Of course Hanabi. Ask ahead."  
For the last year or so, Hanabi was getting more and more comfortable around her older sister.  
They started more and more casual conversations. Hanabi even started asking her for advice more often lately. Mostly because of the progress and experience she gained as a genin.  
It started out with some questions about some projects she was given by the academy.  
Their father simply stopped helping Hanabi, and directed her to ask her big sister.  
They even shared a few giggles together.  
Today her little sister had a curious look upon her face.  
"How does it feel, changing so much in so little time? I mean i didn't even like you a year ago, and you are more like a real big sister."  
It was more of a statement then a question. And the part that actually was a question was a simple one. Yet it was hard to answer quickly.

After a little thinking, Hinata came up with a good answer that should satisfy her sisters curiosity.  
"Hanabi, when you grow older, your body changes. And so does your personality.  
"Sometimes it is a very slow process, and will take many years before you'll notice the change. Sometimes it's so fast, you'll only find out about the change when others point it out to you.  
"It's like how dad is slowly growing into an old man.  
"It'll take about 20 more years before he's gray and wrinkly, but it's gonna happen as surely as you'll become a beautiful woman like mom was."  
The thought of her father being a wrinkly old man made Hanabi giggle loudly.  
And as if reading her little sisters mind, Hinata couldn't help but smile.

Inside of his office, Huuga Hiashi could hear the girls giggle a bit. It pleased him greatly that they finally started to get along.  
It took Hinata a few minutes more to enter his office because of this, but he wasn't going to reprimand her now.  
He stopped working as his eldest daughter finally walked into his office.  
"Father," Hinata announced herself formally. "Kurenai-sensai asked me to see you before i left for the Hidden Sand village."  
Her sight drifted to her feet mid-sentence.  
Even though she gained a lot of confidence over the last year, his daughter was still too timid for his taste.  
But he was sure this would change in the coming when she gets older.  
"Hinata, unlike last time, i have a lot of faith in you. You'll make me proud whether or not you succeed in becoming a chuunin.  
"Both you and Neji have grown far beyond the level of a genin."  
Hinata actually felt a tiny bit of pride form in her body as her father spoken those few words.  
She wasn't sure she could meet his expectations, but she would definitely would give it her best.  
The young kunoichi stood up and gave her father a deep and respectful bow.  
"Thank you father. I won't let you down."  
She felt good about herself as she left her father's office, and couldn't hide her proud smile as she picked up her bag and left the mansion  
After Hinata met up with her friend Shino, they both left for the gates.  
It took them both a few minutes before they met up with Kurenai, Kiba and Akamaru.  
After team Kurenai double-checked their gear, they finally left for the Hidden Sand village.

Although they were rivals, Tsunade had witnessed their capacity to work together on previous missions. She had high hopes for the both of them.  
Both girls where her students, and performed very well. Accept for the occasional quarrels between them.  
The learned the hard way when they started one of their quarrels at one of their first lessons together under Tsunade. It was the last time as well that Tsunade witnessed such behavior.  
It was almost like watching the rivalry unfold between the young Orochimaru and the young Jiraya.  
The thought made her smile a little bit every time.  
As Ino, Chouji, and their jounin captain Akuma, walked into the 5th her office, she noticed a change in the atmosphere.  
Both girls where suddenly fully aware of the situation.  
Tsunade knew there will be a few quarrels between Sakura and Ino before they will be able to function fully as a team.  
She just hoped it would be settled before the chuunin-exams started.  
"Sakura, you are hereby assigned to team 8. Follow Akuma's instructions as if they were my own, and regard Chouji and Ino as you have regarded Naruto and Sasuke. As friends, allies, and as your trusted teammates. That is all. Good luck. Team 8, dismissed!"  
Her words where short, simple, and to the point.  
Chouji, Ino, and Sakura saluted and marched off to home, and pack their bag for the journey to the Hidden Sand village.

"Akuma, Chouji would have no problem to accept Sakura as Shikamaru's replacement for the upcoming exams. But i expect that Ino and Sakura will have a few conflicts before they will be able to work together as equals."  
Akuma scratched the back of his head, while looking a bit worried.  
"These 2 girls will either make it, or break it.  
"It would be much better to test them as a team, before they start the exams."  
Suddenly a plan formed in the back of Akuma's head, and gave Tsunade a reassuring smile.  
Never mind. I already found a good way to test just that.  
"Could i borrow Shizune for a day?"  
Four hours later team 8 had already left Konoha's territory and where making good time.  
For now the two alpha females, Akuma called them when they couldn't hear him, Ino and Sakura where very peaceful. Something Akuma and Chouji knew wouldn't last. It was only a matter of time before they lock horns.  
The two young woman had an equal amount of combat pros and cons.  
Sakura would pummel Ino into the ground in close combat, while Ino would devastate Sakura at ranged combat.  
They both where very smart, and where bold enough to do something nobody would expect.  
He needed to bring them both to a level quickly, where they could function as a team.  
He hoped the two girls would find equal ground to do just that, but the way Ino was sticking to Chouji's side and Sakura to his own, Akuma knew he needed to execute his plan rather sooner than later.  
Otherwise team 8 would fail the exams before they started.  
After another hour of traveling, he ordered his team to take a break.  
Right ofter they landed, the jounin took out a cigarette and lit it.  
Ino and Chouji had gotten used to the habits of their team leader, but their newest member was not.  
Sakura coughed loudly and batted the clouds of smoke away with her hand.

Hinata and the rest of her team had been traveling for a while through forests and later the desert, before they finally reached the Hidden Sand village.  
At the entrance they were welcomed by Shikamaru and Temari.  
Even though Shikamaru and Temari would strongly deny it, they did look like a lot more like a young couple then comrades.  
Hinata could even hear them finish each other's sentences.  
One day, she hoped with all her heart, she could have the same with Naruto.  
The image that formed in her mind made the young Huuga blush.  
Shikamaru noticed, but aimed his attention to Kiba.  
Hinata was different then Sakura or Ino, but she was still a girl. And girls where... troublesome.  
Somehow he knew exactly what the pale-eyed kunoichi was thinking, when he and Temari welcomed them to the village.

After Shikamaru and Temari showed team Kurenai their rooms, they left to welcome other teams from different villages to the chuunin exams.  
Hinata sat down on her bed and pulled her diary out of her bag and started writing in it.  
She was nervous, especially now that her father voiced his expectations to her.  
Though he didn't say so, she knew her father well enough to feel his disappointment if she wouldn't pass the exams.  
The biggest difference with the last chuunin-exams was that Hinata had high expectations from her own part the upcoming exams.  
She felt overwhelmed by the confidence in herself.  
The young Huuga girl placed her diary back into her bag and started to meditate, to calm her mind.  
It would be beneficial if she had an empty head when they started on this exam.

More and more teams from different villages arrived as the day went on.  
Hinata recognized some contenders from the last exams as she looked down from the balcony.  
She smiled as she saw Sakura, Ino and Chouji were greeted by Shikamaru and Temari.  
Hinata was happy that Sakura was able to participate in this exam but was worried about the team she had joined.  
Her relationship with Ino was much to shaky, and hoped they could put their rivalry aside and work as a team. As difficult it may seem.  
Hinata hurried down to meet and greet them.

The exams where planned to start 2 days from the day Hinata arrived at the Hidden Sand village.  
So she had plenty time to see more of the village.  
She especially wanted to see the greenhouse, where she heard many exotic plants and creatures lived.

A few hours later she and Shino arrived at the greenhouse.  
Hinata asked Sakura to join her, but the pink-haired kunoichi wanted to train a bit more with Ino and Chouji.  
Understandable, as they never worked on anything as intensive as the upcoming chuunin-exams as a team.  
When she told her own teammates about her plans to go see the greenhouse, Kiba wasn't the least bit interested.  
Shino however was much more willing to accompany her.  
Mostly because he wanted to see what kind-off insects lived in the desert.  
Kankuro told him about all the weird creatures he saw in his life. Most of which caused him nightmares when he was much younger, Temari teased.  
Especially the wide variety of scorpions intrigued him.

Hinata and Shino where separated as they entered the greenhouse, and where guided by a guide of their own.  
Though the hidden sand had no ninja with the abilities like the leaf's Aburame clan, they had their own specialists.  
The boy who was assigned to show Shino around was the son, and student, of one of the lead researchers working in the greenhouse.  
The boy was extremely excited about meeting Shino.  
He heard stories about "bug" users of the leaf, and always wanted to meet one in person.  
Besides being a bug fan, the boy was recently promoted to genin from the hidden sand.  
Shino gave the boy five eggs from the colony that lived inside the body of the hidden leaf's ninja.  
He told the young boy that once the eggs hatch. The larva would bond with the boys chakra, and so will their many offspring.

As Shino followed the boy, Hinata followed her own guide.  
The young woman was a future scientist, who loved working with plants and flowers.  
She showed Hinata all the special plants and flowers, which where al wonderful specimens in her pale eyes.

The days went by very fast, and early in the morning team Kurenai was ready to start the exams.  
"Yahoo! Now that Naruto isn't around to spoil my chances to become a chuunin, my chances are looking very good. Let's do this Akamaru!"  
The white dog barked loudly with excitement that mirrored Kiba's, right before they entered the large building where the first part of the exams where being held.

* * *

For now I've decided to keep Sakura's and Ino's test of the script for the next chapter. As i tend to focus more on Hinata.  
But, if enough of you want some more "screen-time" for this part of the story, feel free to send me a PM with your request.

As for the next chapter, i tossed the script and have to start from scratch.  
So no teaser for the next chapter, other then: The Chuunin exams have begone!


End file.
